Under an Unfamiliar Sky
by MindSpring
Summary: My friends and I suddenly appeared here in the middle of the night. We have no idea when, where, or why. When we start meeting Smashers, we start putting the story together. Too well, it seems, because now the evil that was chasing them is now after us.RR
1. Prologue

So! Here it is, the story that I will be writing instead of _A New Beginning_ for a while. In this 'Prologue' of sorts, I will give a short character description of each person in the story. Every character is based off of real people in my life. Almost all of them are real friends, with minor changes to keep them safe.

AMY- Amy is a very easy going person. She makes friends very easily, and also has many crushes or people crushing on her. This makes it difficult to be with a large group, with so many people vying for her attention. She is medium height, has wavy blonde hair, green eyes, and a big smile. She likes to laugh and joke around, sometimes is very random, but her mood can turn sour in an instant if she sees something she doesn't like. Amy is currently dating Chase.

JACKIE- Jackie is not a very sociable person, but she is loyal to her friends. She doesn't like to be asked personal questions, and she is very intimate and will immediately retort with a strong attitude if she doesn't like something someone did. She doesn't care what other people say about her. She is short, a little on the round side, and has somewhat curly brown hair. Jackie wears glasses, and her eyes are a wide-set pair, colored brown.

DYLAN- The ultimate funny man of the group, he likes to mess around with his friends a lot. He is the one that can get people out of a bad mood in an instant. He will prank the girls without worry, and he likes to bask in the 'glory'. He is medium height, rather thing with wiry muscles, has short brown hair that is straight and neat, and bright green eyes. The rumors say he has a crush on Amy.

CALEB- Caleb is a drummer in the school band. His signature item is the mobster hat he wears constantly. It is also stolen a lot by the girls. Since he is musical, he will often break out in a rhythm in whatever he's doing. If you can beat it, he will be there. His hair is curly black and it lies flat on his head. Caleb's eyes are a dark brown. He is shorter than Dylan but taller than Jackie. He might also have a crush on Amy.

AARON- Aaron is the most stubborn boy you shall ever meet. He is tall, and takes that as an advantage in his 'debates'. If he doesn't like something you say, then prepare for a quick rebuke. Aaron likes to pick on the girls, especially Amy, and when she starts to hit him, he acts completely unaffected and she usually ends up hurting herself. He is also Amy's ex. He will argue about anything and everything, and if he loses, than he will deny it over and over until you give up because of frustration. He is always a sarcastic person, and he never seems to have a serious side. Don't get on his nerves; he can and will get you down immediately.

BRI- Bri is a tough, strong girl, who knows what she wants and will do whatever it takes to get it. In freshman year, she took Junior ROTC. If she joins the Navy, she will be a Seventh Generation. Her attitude is severely sarcastic and at the same time, less harsh than Aaron. She has dark brown hair which is put up in a ponytail, never anything else. Her eyes are light silver, and she is very strong, considering she takes three hours of dance every night. She will use her strength if someone is bothering her. At the same time, she is a very good listener and will try to get you in a better mood as soon as possible.

ADDIE- Addie is a very creative person. She loves to write, and when you are with her, ideas just start popping into your head like crazy. She loves to have fun, even though she can get embarrassed very easily by her other friends in public. Addie will stay up late and get up early in order to write down her stories. She can also draw amazingly well, and can whip up a likeness of anyone in a minute flat (timed). Addie is a good friend, loyal and loving. Her hair is a goldish-red, hanging just past her jaw line, and her eyes are upturned with smile lines. Her eyes are brown. She goes to a private school instead of East for the art curriculum.

PSYCHE- Psyche changed her name in seventh grade to get away from the crowd. She loves that no one else has her name. She is an indie rocker, and hates anything pop. She is hilarious and is willing to do whatever to have a good time (not like that!) Psyche is a singer, and a great lover of finding unknown bands and bringing them out into the world. She is great to be around. Psyche is also brutally honest, which is both an advantage and disadvantage. Her hair was dyed a deep brown, almost, but not black. Her eyes are brown.

VICTORIA- She is one of the unspoken leaders of the group. Victoria, or Tori for short (only to be called that by her close friends) is competitive, creative, and extremely outgoing. She is brave, and will try anything new and strange. Most of the time, Tori will drag someone else into her newest 'exploration'. She makes friends very easily. Her hair is a light blonde, and her eyes are one of those that change colors, from brown to hazel to green and then back to brown.

JESSABELL- Jessabell is quiet, shy, but insightful and curious. Around new people, she will not talk very much, but her around her friends, she absolutely changes. So much so, you might wonder if she has a twin. She likes to be alone at times, and will often be caught reading. Jessabell's hair is a golden blonde with natural brown highlights underneath. She has bangs just brushing her eyebrows, and her eyes a light, icy blue. She wears black, rhinestone-encrusted glasses. She is extremely observant and has very good sympathetic insight.

ALIZA- Aliza is the female version of Dylan. She is funny, fun to be around, talks fast, and usually, she is extremely hyper. However, she knows when to slow down the pace and listen, or offer a shoulder to cry on. Her hair is curly dark brown hair, and her eyes are also a dark brown. She is short, and refers to herself as 'travel size'. She goes to South instead of East because she does not want to be in her older brother's shadow. She is involved with band and theater.

CHASE- Chase is a tall, silent stranger. Around Amy, whom he is dating, he will come out a little, but usually he will just stand there and smile. When he inputs something, everyone will listen thoughtfully. If you have ever read _Of Mice and Men_, he is exactly the group's version of Slim. He is thoughtful and is very kind, a good listener.

SCOOPS- Scoops is a nickname for her. Scoops is fun, a mix of indie and a drama rat. She has a great attitude to be around, and when you need to rant, she'll be there for you immediately. Her movements are quick and somewhat jerky. She has naturally highlighted hair, ranging in all colors of the blonde through brown scale. Her eyes are a light brown, and she wears glasses. She has braces and is always smiling broadly. Scoops and Aaron might like each other, as observed by Jessabell.

PAUL-Paul is a sort of outsider with the group. He used to date Amy, but over a Facebook comment he left for a friend, she immediately cast him out. He tried to redeem himself by taking Addie to her homecoming, but for reasons unknown, he left her the night before. He eventually gave up trying to fit back in, and apparently has a crush on Jessabell, because she is the only one who, according to him, is not overcome by the drama in the group. He has slightly curly hair, which is a light brown. He is tall and his eyes are a dark brown.

These are the main characters. Some more of their personalities will be revealed during the story. Drama, drama, drama seems to run this group, and whoever does something to fall out of favor with one of the 'leaders' (Amy, Bri, Jessabell, or Victoria), they will be immediately cast out and ignored. It is very hard to get back in. But also, if you are in the group, you are guaranteed a good time and good friends. Pay attention to some of the names; most have meanings important to the characters they represent!

So! Get ready for (hopefully) a good read!


	2. Beauty as Viewed from Scared Eyes

The first thing I noticed when I opened my eyes were the stars.

Billions of them lined the dark night sky. I have never seen so many before ever in my life. Even though I live in suburban Kansas, the most I have seen, though I can't give you an actual amount, was probably a few hundred. Light pollution and smog from the city cleared the rest up pretty well. I rubbed my eyes sleepily and sat up, staring. I hugged my knees to my chest. I could sit there all night and just watch them twinkle. I saw the different constellations, the moon, big and bold and beautiful, and the Milky Way. I sighed contentedly. _This must have been what it was like before pollution. I have always wanted to see this._

The second thing I noticed was the sounds. Rustling leaves as wind and animals passed through bushes and trees, chirpings of animal calling to their families, an ocean slamming its power into the beaches… The smells were amazingly aromatic. Flowers bloomed, sending their sweet perfume over to me, and combined with the briny smell of the ocean, wherever it was, stopped the flowers from getting to stuffy. I breathed in deeply and laid back down, resting my head on my crossed arms, facing the stars.

That was about the time my brain started to wake up.

My smile melted off my face as I realized I shouldn't be anywhere near an ocean, for one. Living in Kansas typically means no large bodies of water like an ocean. Secondly, I was one-thousand percent sure I fell asleep in my bed at home. Not in a clearing on the grass. My fingers fanned out, feeling the cold grass bend beneath them. I stretched out my arms, and arched them in a wide circle around me. I touched clothes on the right, and flesh on the left.

I gasped, my eyes bugging and heart pounding. I had never really been a screamer. More like a silent sufferer, according to my friends at school. I took a few breaths to calm myself down, and I slowly stood and for the first time, really looked at my surroundings.

I was right, I was in a clearing. In a forest. The closest forest I knew was the one at my grandparent's ranch in Tonganoxie. The trees here all looked like tropical ones. They extended their branches out and up, almost as if they were vying for the best light against one another. What was once peaceful now just looked ominous, as if hiding something deadly. I turned my attention to the things I felt on the ground. Amazingly, the light of the stars and moon combined was enough to just barely make out the faces of two of my friends from school, a boy named Jakob and a girl named Ava. I stared at them, more than a little confused. What the crap were they doing here? Better question, what was _I_ doing here?

I backed up a little, and stumbled on something. I looked down. I had tripped on another one of my friends, Charlotte, or Charli for short. I stared down at her. She wasn't moving. I quickly bent down and felt for a pulse and looked for her breath. She was only asleep. I stood again and looked around. Now that my eyes had adjusted more to the starlight, I could see the slightly bulgy forms of… I quickly counted… thirteen of my friends. I sucked in a breath, frowning. _Okay, wake up, Jessabell!_ I thought to myself. _Wake up, wake up, WAKE UP!_ I looked at my arm, where five crescent prints were pressed into my skin. One was bleeding. _Okay, the pinch-me-I'm-dreaming thing did NOT work._ What now?

_Well, you have two choices. One, explore, or two, stay put. I could probably figure out where we are, but I could get lost and not be able to find my way back. And, if they all woke up, they wouldn't know I was here and they could move and then I'd be truly lost. But if I stay, it could be hours before they wake up._ I sighed. Two was obviously better than one, even though I was dying to figure out this mystery. So I plopped back down and surprised myself when I landed on my phone in my back pocket. I took it out and examined it. Not a scratch or dent anywhere, and the time read 3:39 am. The battery was full, but I turned it off. _I don't know how long we are going to be away from home._ I replaced it in my jeans.

_Jeans? What the crap, I don't sleep in my jeans! Or my shoes… _Looking down at myself, I realized I was fully dressed, with a cami underneath a black cardigan. I also had capris on, and my Vans. I was dressed for summer, even though it was winter in Kansas. I touched my eyes, gently, behind my glasses. I was wearing makeup. My bangs were pulled back with a cloth headband, and my hair was pulled into a ponytail. Putting my hand on my front pocket, I felt my IPod sticking out.

_Okay, I was confused, but now I am really freaked out. Where the hell are we? And why are we all dressed for school?_ Apparently, I was the only one awake. And scared crapless. I was extremely jumpy, and I froze at every small sound or movement. I looked at the person nearest me. To my surprise, she wasn't one of my friends. Not even an acquaintance. But, still, I knew who she was, because she was famous for… I shuddered. I couldn't even spell the words in my head without involuntarily gagging. She denied it, of course. But one of my 'spies', I guess you could call it, had told me that both of the guys admitted it. At lunch. When it's one admittance, it's pretty sketchy. But two? At the same time? Well, I think she sealed her fate when she decided to do that.

I moved away from her. I know it was bad, but I was pretty sure she hated me because I was the one who found out about it and gotten the ball rolling. And she scared me just a little because of her crazy antics.

I started wandering around the clearing, looking at my friends, making sure they were okay. They were all there, even the one who didn't go to my school. I smiled at all of them. Some of their faces were hilarious. Aaron, for instance, had one arm thrown over his eyes and his mouth was wide open. He snoring pretty dang loud, too. Amy and Chase were right next to each other. It was so fitting, since they have been going out for five months. Each had a contented smile on their face, and I could guess who they were dreaming about. Hopefully not like _that…_

Bri was frowning in her sleep, and her arms were curled tightly around each other. I had no idea what she thinking. Victoria was sprawled out, stretching even in sleep. That was just like her, acting like she owned everything when she was awake, so why not when she was asleep?

I stretched backward, yawning a little. I have never been awake so early before, and I had never seen a sunrise without building, fences and cars blocking my view. I wondered if I would be able to see the whole procession of light and color from the clearing, or just the end, when the tips of the trees would be bathed in gold. I sighed happily. I was on a roll, poetically wise. I laid back down and wondered about where we were, why, what time period we were in… Soon I was fast asleep, curled into a ball underneath an unfamiliar night sky, surrounded by friends. Who wouldn't be peaceful?

A few hours later, according to my phone, I was shaken awake. I groaned, not remembering where I was, thinking it was Mom coming to yell at me for sleeping in on a school day. I turned over and was surprised that instead of my dark ceiling, blinding sunlight worked its way underneath my closed eyelids.

"Jessabell! Oh, my God, wake up! I am freakin scared shitless right now!"

I frowned at the voice. "Addie? What the heck are you doing in my room?"

An impatient sigh. "Well, if your room has trees, animals, and grass and no ceiling, then I don't know."

"_Well._ Alright, I'm up, I'm up." I opened my eyes and sat up. Addie was crouched next to me, her short, re-gold hair blowing in the warm breeze. Her brown eyes were wide with fear, and she was shivering, even in the warm sun. I grinned at her, my friend that I rarely ever see because she transferred to a private school instead of going to East. "So! What's on your mind?"

She frowned, and moved so she was sitting next to me. "Well, considering I fell asleep in my bed, listening to the _Wicked_ soundtrack, and woke up in a clearing, on grass, surrounded by people I don't know _at all,_ I would say I'm just dandy, thanks!" She swooped her arms around for emphasis. I giggled, and said, "That sums me up, too." I pulled my headband out and started finger-brushing my blond hair, which fell just past my shoulder blades.

Addie looked at me. "When did you get glasses? And bangs? And why didn't you tell me? And-"

"And are you asking enough questions?" We both laughed, and I said, "I got bangs and glasses two months ago, and I _so_ did tell you."

"What? When?"

"On Facebook. It was my status for like a whole _month_." I shook my finger on you. "Shame, shame, should have paid attention."

She smiled, and pulled her legs up to her chest. She looked around, and her smiled slid off her face. "But, seriously, where are we?"

I sighed, good mood gone. "I have no clue." I put my legs into a half-straddle stretch, and leaned over, letting my hair fall and hide my face. I was pretty much an open book when it came to emotions, and I didn't want Addieto see how freaked out I was. "All I know is that I woke up at three thirty in the morning, fully dressed, and I could see all the stars in the world. Universe, I mean."

She looked at me incredulously. "You woke up in the middle of the night and didn't freak out?"

"Now, I didn't say _that._ Hey, do you have your phone and IPod?"

"Why would I have my-" Addie's eyes widened as she felt the outline of her phone and IPod in her jacket. "Well, that is weird."

"To say in the least." I looked around, and switched my legs and stretched the other way. "Should we wake everyone else up? They'll all be freaked to see you."

She sighed and stood, stretching. "Sure." She started to walk away to the nearest person she knew, which happened to be Scoops. Scoops also had her glasses on, like me. Addie looked back, and asked, hands on her hips, "Well? Are you coming?"

I groaned and laid down, saying "I don't wannaaaa…"

She stalked back over to me, and looked down. Her outline blocked the sun from my view. I grinned, "Stay right there! That's perfect."

She rolled her eyes and grabbed me by both of my arms and heaved. I jerked up and was soon standing next to her. She wiped her hands and escorted me to Scoops. We smiled at each other, then bent down and sat on Scoops.

"_Omph!"_ She groaned and tried to shove us off, not successful in the least.

"Ha! She sounds like an Oompa-Loompa!" I laughed, and started poking her in the stomach while Addie tickled her feet. "Are you ticklish, Scoops? Huhhuhuhuhuhuh?"

Finally, she woke up. As soon as her eyes opened, Ava and I were off, sitting next to her, plucking little flowers from the ground and making garlands. I know, we are so random, but what's not to love?

"Goood morning, sunshine!" Addie chirped. Scoops sat up and stared at her. After a few seconds of silence (with me looking back and forth between them like I was watching a tennis match), Scoops yelped and tackled Addie.

"ADDIE ADDIE ADDIE ADDIE! Oh, my God! No way no way!" They hugged and started talking excitedly. Honestly, they were talking so fast I could not separate a single word out. I laughed at them, and they quickly looked at me. "What?"

"Oh, nothing. You guys are just hilarious."

Scoops smiled, agreeing. Suddenly she frowned, and looked between Ava and me. "Wait a minute. Something's not right here…"

I raised my eyebrows, and Addie nodded sarcastically. "Go on," she said, gesturing.

Scoops regarded us. "Where are we?" she finally asked. I rolled my eyes and laughed along with Ava.

"Well," I said, putting on my best new reporter voice, "we are currently located 66 degrees north, 23 degrees east. We are in the countryside of Nantucket, and the weather forecast looks bright and sunny. We were all dropped off by a UFO in the middle of the night here, and I know all the answers to all your problems."

Scoops laughed again. "Okay, okay, I get it. We don't know anything."

I stared at her, mock hurt on my face. "I just told you! I know everything! That hurts, Scoops." I pouted my lip and crossed my arms. As she leaned for a hug, fingers poked me hard in the side. I spazzed, jerking around to see Bri grinning down on me.

"Always ticklish, Jessabell! Makes for an easy target." She plopped herself down next toAddie and side-hugged her. "Sup, Addie."

I turned to her, and said, "Have you seen Amy?"

Brishook her head. "Why?"

"Because she's here, sleeping right next to her boyfriend." I spoke the last word like it was taboo.

Addie started. "Amy has a _boyfriend_?"

Scoops giggled and said, "I know, right? Makes us feel successful, doesn't it?" She stood to join Bri on their quest to see this wonder.

"Bri! Don't wake her up, she'll be pissed off!"

Bri just grinned evilly.

Two minutes later, Addie and I heard a yelp and then a slap. We looked at each other as the voices were raised and shrieks were to be heard from the other side of the clearing. We looked back to see Chase, Amy, Bri and Scoops trudging back to our campout area. Everyone except Amy was laughing, but even she was smiling.

One hour later, everyone was awake. I looked at them all, talking and joking and trying to ignore the fact we woke up in the middle of nowhere. After introductions were made for the sake of Addie and Aliza, who both didn't go to East, everyone popped down where they were and started talking. I was amazed how diplomatically we were handling the situation. Aaron and Victoria were arguing again, probably about how we all got here; Amy, Bri, Scoops, and Chase were all listening and laughing to a story Aliza was telling them about South; Addieand Paul were trying not to break out fighting, and I was joking with Psyche and Caleb.

The only one who wasn't socializing in any way was Jackie, the same girl who I was startled to find this morning. She sat by herself and was staring at all of us, suspicious. She had curled her arms around her round body and was muttering to herself as she looked at everyone else. I met her gaze, and she did a double take, her eyes flashing with anger. I was surprised, and more than slightly hurt, so I turned my attention back to Caleb and Psyche. Psyche had somehow managed to get Sharpies on her person, so I took one and started drawing on her jeans. She ignored me and kept talking. This is what we do in choir when we are really bored. Exciting, isn't it?

I sighed, somehow knowing that this peace would be too fragile to last long. Somehow, we were going to have to find a way out of this, and solve this mystery that got us here.


	3. The Small Rebellions of Love

Victoria leaned back against a rock. She looked at us all separately, her face as serious as I have ever seen it in ten years of best friend-hood, as she asked the question of the century:

"Where the hell are we?"

This was immediately followed by three separate statements, made at the exact same time:

"In a clearing." As told by Aaron, as if he couldn't believe she didn't know the answer.

"On Pluto. It took us for revenge on making it a dwarf planet." Aliza, always the funny girl, assumed seriously.

"Here's a better question: Why are we all here?" To my surprise, Jackie had moved so she was in our circle. She had scooted next to Paul, who was trying hard not to move away or give us 'help me' looks. She had spoken quietly, so only Paul and I heard her, because we were the only ones who weren't talking. We looked at each other and I gave him a sympathetic smile. He blushed, and only then did I remember, according to Amy and Bri, that he had a crush on me. I didn't believe it, he would have said something. Wouldn't he?

I looked over at them. They grinned, and Amy made a little heart with her hands. Underneath her smile, however, I saw a flash of warning in her eyes. I shook my head at her and threw a stick I had found at her. It landed a few feet away, but she still jumped and clung to Chase, who patted her head while giving me a thumbs up. I noticed out of the corner of my eye Dylan sighed and looked down. I grinned at Amy and said, "That's what you get!"

"When you left her heart with-" Victoria immediately picked up the Paramore lyrics and proceeded to yell them at the top of her lungs.

"WHOA OH AH OH!" all the girls, excluding Jackie, followed her lead. The boys rolled their eyes and Aaron sighed loudly and sarcastically. "If we get attacked by bears, I am blaming you and throwing you to them first."

I threw up my hands in protest and exclaimed, "It was Victoria! I only said a combination of words that just happened to be lyrics of a hit song!"

"Yeah, _oddly _enough."

I stuck my tongue out at him, and everyone laughed. It soon died away as we realized we were still in the middle of nowhere. We all looked at each other, wondering if anyone had any ideas. I leaned back onto the grass, staring up at the sky. The clouds were huge and poufy, and the sky behind them was a bright, clear blue. I closed my eyes, and inhaled deeply. My eyes snapped open as I remembered that last night (well, technically, this morning) I had smelled an ocean. I sat up and adjusted my hair. No one had spoken yet, so I decided to start it off.

"I woke up last night at three-"

"How did you know it was three?" Scoopsasked, confusion on her face.

By way of answer, I pulled out my phone and waggled it at her. "I almost broke it in two when I tripped over Bri there."

"Huh, no wonder my back is slightly sore!"

"Sorry 'bout that… Anyway, I didn't like, explore, or anything, but I did smell an ocean. So I say we go out and explore the area."

"We could get lost!" Amy exclaimed, fear etched on her face. "We have no way of finding our way back here."

"Hansel and Gretal." Aliza said thoughtfully, rubbing her chin and biting her lip. That's what she does when she's worried. Granted, I have never seen it, but I have heard about it. This is when I started to notice all of my friends, the ones who I thought were unshakeable rocks, theoretically speaking, all looked nervous and/or scared out of their minds. Which didn't make me feel good at all. In fact, I started to feel sick to my stomach.

"What? What the heck does that have anything to do with this?"

"They left signs behind them when their dad left them in the forest, remember? So if we do explore, all we have to leave some sort of sign like that behind us and follow the trail."

Everyone nodded, and I asked, "A trail of what?"

"Um, not anything that could be eaten, picked up, kicked out of place, torn away, or mauled in any sort of way."

I paused, creasing my forehead. "So that leaves us with…"

"Stones."

"But those can be applied to option B, C, and E!" I looked at her. I was trying to get everyone in a lighter mood, because I knew that things seemed worse and more terrifying if you were scared. So, baby steps, baby steps.

Thank God, everyone laughed. Sure, it was nervously, but it was something! It seemed my ploy was working. I grinned a little to myself, and sighed theatrically. "Okay, stones it is." I stood and began searching for stones. Everyone followed my lead and stood as well. They spread out through the clearing, searching for good, sizable rocks we could use. Someone had taken off their jacket and was using it as a place to put the rocks. It was a good idea, and every followed the example.

With everyone else concentrated on that, Paul and I walked around the clearing, looking for a path of some sorts. We talked about random things for a while before we found one halfway around the clearing. It looked large, made obviously by humans and not animals. It could easily fit four side by side. Instead of moving back to tell our group, he gestured to it and said, "Let's explore for a little bit and see where it goes."

I bit my lip and looked back at Amy and Bri. They were both focused on getting Aaron away from themselves, on the complete opposite side of the clearing. My thoughts, as usual, were written clear as day on my face.

"Come on. Only for a little bit. They won't even notice we're gone."

"Well, they might. I don't know, let's just tell them and then all go…" The look on his face startled me into silence. Not knowing what else to do, I followed him into the brush.

The path was dirt, smooth and clear of rocks, which surprised me. The trees lining the path arched their wide, green leaves over us, so the sunlight that filtered through was slightly green. It gave the whole scene an eerie underwater look. Colorful tropical flowers contrasted deeply with the browns and greens. Bright reds, pinks, oranges, and yellows bloomed on the ground, and we could hear birds tittering at each other, hidden in the alcoves of leaves. I gaped in all of this beauty, stunned. I looked over at Paul. He wasn't looking at the wonder of the tropical jungle we were in; he was looking at me.

I quickly closed my mouth, and smiled shyly at him. He returned the favor, and listened for a short while. We could both hear, above the birds and wind, the crashing of an ocean. It didn't sound that far away. We started walking in the direction the path went. I started talking again, fast and somewhat high-pitched, just to get rid of the awkwardness.

I stumbled once, in an unseen little dent in the dirt. My concentration had been on trying to not to think about what Amy and Bri would say when they found out about this. Paul caught me before I did a face plant, and he didn't let go of me. Instead, he dropped his hand to hold mine, and I didn't pull away. I smiled at him, and we started swinging our arms. I leaned into him, and let my head rest on his shoulder. We started talking again, but this time there was no awkwardness in it. We were, for the first time in a very long time, truthful with our feelings. My heart was beating, and I felt such a rush of… I don't even know what, but it felt amazing. For the first time, I was loved by someone I knew my own age. It felt great. Still, he realized the problem first.

"We are going to have to keep this a secret, aren't we?"

"I should think so. But who honestly cares?"

"Not me. But, still, to be safe, we will not mention the fact that we are together until we're sure that they forgive me." When he said 'together', my heart skipped a beat, and I pressed in closer.

"I thought you didn't care!"

"I only said that to keep you safe."

I giggled and stopped to look up at him. "How sweet!"

He leaned in until our foreheads were touching. His hands brought mine up, and he gently kissed them. "I really, really like you, Jessabell. I've liked you for such a long time." By this time, my heart was fluttering around like crazy. So this is why Amy has 'fallen in love' so many times. I whispered, as if I was scared that Amy would be eavesdropping, "I really like you too, Paul." He met my lips with his, and we kissed for the first time. We felt like such rebellious little children, going against what the general consensus said. I put my head on his chest, and we started swaying. We stood there for a couple minutes before I pulled away, and said, "We should probably go back now."

He nodded, and, my hand still in his, we ran back to the clearing. Luckily, we didn't need our rocks to lead us back. As soon as the entrance was in our sights, we pulled away from each other and walked back at a normal pace, separated the 'proper' distance away for friends. As Paul held up the branch that blocked the path, he let his hand brush mine, and I winked at him. We entered back in, and, to our immense relief, no one had noticed our absence.

"Hey, guys!" I called, cupping my hands around my mouth to reach around the entire clearing. "We found a path!"

I heard inaudible shouts of what sounded like cheers. I heard Psyche call out, "Where are you? Start singing!"

I sighed and rolled my eyes, but followed her orders. "KUKABOORA SITS IN THE OLD GUM TREE, MERRY MERRY KING OF THE BUSH IS HE. LAUGH! KUKABOORA LAUGH! GAY YOUR LIFE MUST BE!" It took two repeats of that song before the rest of the group appeared, dragging their jackets and piles of rocks behind them. I laughed, "Finally! Anyway, I don't think we need those rocks. But let's keep them just in case!" I added quickly when I heard groans of despair.

Azila was first, her face comically annoyed. "Well, guys, let's go explore!" She let out a half-hearted cheer, and someone, Addie or Amy, followed her lead. Paul and I held the leaves up out of the way while the rest of them trudged through. We heard gasps of surprise and awe, and even one "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto."

I darted around sweatshirts, rocks, and people, and backed up, acting like a tour guide. "Okay, peeps, I don't know how far away the beach or whatever is, but let's get to it!"

We walked for about ten minutes. By that time, it was nearing noon, and the talking had ceased as we felt our throats get steadily dryer from lack of water for twenty-four hours, at least. The heat was oppressive; humid and uncomfortably warm. My throat felt sandy, and I fell back to the back of the group with Paul. No one noticed, because we were all listening hard for the sound of water. Paul took my hand, and we said nothing. The rocks were getting heavier and heavier, and since we had no need for them because the path was so clear, we dumped them off the road in little piles and shook the jackets free of dust.

Five minutes later, Victoria gave a hoarse cry, her voice cracking as she said, "Guys I see it! It's beautiful, a beach and a river! Oh, my God!" Everyone started running, and, sure enough, the jungle suddenly stopped and a white, sandy beach sprung up as if from nowhere. The beach was long and stretched for miles, and the sand was warm and soft. A river mouth deposited its waters a little ways to our right, and it looked clear and sweet. I ran to the river first and quickly stooped down and sipped it. I was right; it was sweet and clean. I shouted this fact to everyone, and we all gathered around it to quench our thirst.

Afterwards, we found a bunch of huge rocks near the river and gathered around them, sitting in various places and we started talking more and more. I carefully noted the body language of Amy and Bri to Paul; it seemed to be getting better. I think it was because we were all united by the common cause of being confused, alone, and slightly scared of our current situation. We sat there on those rocks for a long time, talking about our circumstances and the various factors that might have caused our being there. Also we talked about what to do. We decided to use the stones from the clearing to make a shelter, and wood from the nearby forests for fire. The girls would scout out the area while the boys made a shelter. In the end, we all agreed we had no idea why, where, or when, but until we figured those it, it would be best not to worry. That phrase would be our motto for… however long we spent there, and I have to admit, it worked very well, even through the strangeness of what was to come.


	4. The Gracefulness of Disbelief

I walked next to Aliza and Tori as we searched the clearing out. Fruit trees were extremely abundant here, as were tropical nuts and berries. As we found each tree or bush, we looked for signs that animals had eaten off of them, and would be consequentially safe for us as well. Then, either Amy or Addie followed the stones (we did find a use for them after all!) back to the path and marked the way using the rocks or branches, while the rest of us gathered the food in our jackets (those things have so many uses). We found fifteen spots in one afternoon. As we tramped back, we could hear grunts of the boys as they struggled to make a good, sizeable shelter for fourteen people. We laughed and joked about that for a long time.

When we made our way back into camp, it was so hot and gross out that we gently placed our jackets of berries in the shade of the trees and raced the guys to the ocean. As everyone else passed me, I slowed down and waited for Paul. As he neared me, I turned and motioned for him to hurry his butt up. He ran to me, and we hugged tightly for a few seconds before he bent down and quickly kissed me. We held hands for the rest of the short walk to the beach. I admitted to him that I had been thinking about the fact that we lived under Amy and Bri's 'rule', and it was starting to get to me. I was annoyed that because they didn't like something that happened over eight months ago, I couldn't date the only dude who wanted to be with me. He whole-heartedly agreed with me.

As we emerged from the path into the blinding sunshine, he and I separated again. I quickly said, before any could see us together, "Let's meet here, after everyone has gone to sleep." He nodded and we let our hands drop. I surveyed my friends on the beach. Amy and Chase were walking along in the water, occasionally stooping down to gather seashells. Tori and Aliza had stripped off their sweatshirts and shorts and were now swimming in the ocean, talking and laughing. The rest of the girls had also taken of their sweatshirts, but were eyeing those two with wonder and awe, that they would do that in front of all the guys. Of course, they both have the perfect bodies. The girls were all sitting somewhat in the surf. I realized all the girls were nearly dressed the same, with either a short sleeve shirt or tank on, and shorts. _Weird,_ I thought as I watched the boys dump water on them using a bucket they had found, _it's almost as if someone had wanted us here, and dressed us for the occasion. _Paul and I made our way to the river, and laid down on the rocks side by side. We talked well into the evening, and the rest of the group slowly gathered around us, talking about what we had accomplished.

I looked at them all, slightly proud. Dylan, Chase, Amy, Aliza and Bri had found a coconut that wasn't ripe just yet, and so was about the same size and softness as a volleyball, and were playing pass back with it. From a bunch of city suburbanites to people thriving off the land and comfortable with it, all in one day. As I smiled at the sky, I froze as I realized something, and sat up. I counted and recounting the heads of the group. I listed off the people in my head, checking them off a list.

Jackie wasn't there.

"Um, guys? Where the crap is Jackie?"

All the talking immediately stopped and everyone looked around, affirming this fact. As the seconds ticked by, no one dared make a sound, listening hard for Jackie to say, "No, guys. I'm right here!" No such thing happened, and Bri was clearly pissed off as she muttered, "_Shit._" Amy stood and shouted her lungs out for Jackie to answer her, and the guys made a double check on the beach while the girls traveled a little upstream, where we found a nice little steam pool that had been branched off from the main river, but no Jackie. My heart was pounding as I realized she could be anywhere, or injured, or dead, or… I shook my head as we raced back to the rocks. _I should just stop thinking so much. I scare myself. _

Caleb told us she was not on the beach, or in the water. Amy told them she wasn't upstream. So, our breathing labored and our hearts thudding, we all sprinted as fast as we could back to camp, searching the bushes for signs of a frizzy head or sneaker. We burst out in the clearing, and we couldn't see her at all. Psyche checked our food supply we had left in the shadows hurriedly. It was all gone.

"Bitch! That bitch stole our food and ran!" Psyche was pissed, and it was quickly spreading to the rest of the camp. Exclamations were thrown into the twilight, and some were pretty harsh. All of them, actually, were cruelly mean. _But, I guess that's what you get when you steal all of our food and high-tailing it. How could she even manage that? To take all of our food? That was a ton of nuts and berries, and it took nine of us to get it all back here. _I suddenly saw something underneath one of the jackets. _Wait a minute…_ My stomach started churning andI jogged over to the jackets, now looking dirty and sad. I bent and examined them. What I found only confirmed my fears. After a minute of that, I quickly stood and shouted, "Get in the shelter! Now!"

Psyche and I grabbed the jackets and ran to the rocks, panting heavily. _We are doing a ton of running today_, I thought grimly. Caleb and Dylan had mercifully heard the urgency in my command and was shepherding the rest of the group into the cave-like structure the boys had somehow made in one afternoon. It was dark in there, so I took out my IPod and set the light setting to 'always on', and placed it in the center of the circle we formed. The harsh light threw everyone's face into a strange distortion of angles and shadows.

"What? What is it?" Tori asked, her voice only slightly shaking.

I took a deep breath and said, "It was Jackie. She did steal our food, and she also left us this lovely note." I brandished a piece of notebook paper that had been crumpled and folded for a long time. On it, written in a hasty handwriting in pen, were the words, "You should have listened to him like me. Now, you're only going to die along with the rest of them. I hope it's slow and painful."

As I lowered the note from reading it out loud, I heard a sniff and a soft moan, "Oh, my God." I looked around the group. Some eyes were closed, as if in pain. Other were open and had a harsh, hard look of disbelief. Psyche's eyes were narrowed dangerously. Aaron had leaned back and was shaking his head. "How? How could she fucking _do_ that?" That started off one of the most foul-mouthed Twenty Questions I have ever heard.

"What the hell?"

"She's a traitor. Benedict Arnold! Shit."

"Who the crap is _he_ and _them_?"

"Why, why why?"

"We are going to die here, all alone, no help. Oh, my God."

"Jessabell, what are we going to do?"

I held up my hands for silence, and amazingly, they all followed my command. "I don't know for sure. I wish I did, trust me, but I honestly think she means death by starvation. We can avoid that, I mean, we _did _find, like, a _gazillion_ bushes and trees we can use. So, in other words, it's an empty threat. She does hate us, remember? She probably just wanted to scare us into not doing anything and so we would die from that." I leaned back as my words sank in. After a few seconds, sighs of relief echoed around the cave.

"So, tomorrow, we are gonna go get some more food, and water, and more explorations, and it's all gonna be good. Get it?"

"Got it!"

"Good." I smiled at Aliza, and said sweetly, "So, honey, how was South?"

"OH, my God, it was crazy and fun and awesome! There's this one girl, Sara-"

"Can't be better than East." Aaron picked at his fingernails, and when Aliza rebutted him, they both got into an argument about which school was better. It lasted for hours, and when we all grew immensely tired of it, we talked around them. I admired the boys' work, on how stable it was, and cozy, even with thirteen of us in there. Amy and I talked about the boys right in front of them, but since we used codenames, they just sat there and looked confused. By gently using conversation and humor, we steadily walked away from Jackie's betrayal, which stung, even though she wasn't a friend. By midnight, everyone was asleep, except Paul and me. We looked at each other and gently stepped over sleeping friends as the huddled together for warmth. I ducked out first, and again, I was struck by the stars and their vast numbers. As Paul stepped out, I heard him gasp and mutter something underneath his breath. I held out my hand and he took it. We walked together, looking up at the stars and talking.

"That was extremely smooth back there, how you handled that?"

I ducked my head, thanking God for the cover of night as I blushed deeply. "Thanks. I just don't want a bunch of freaked out high schoolers in my hands."

"Understandable, understandable. Do you think Amy and Bri have forgiven me yet?"

I leaned against him as we walked, sighing, "It's too early to tell. Give it a few days, but I believe we are getting there."

"Awesome!"

I grinned, and we kissed again. I could get used to this, and with my heart fluttering like mad, we made our way to the beach. I sat on his jacket while I gave him a back massage when he had said he was sore from lifting those rocks. We talked for the rest of the night. I even think I dozed for a while on his shoulders, but he shook me awake, and pointed to the sky. "Look at that!" he breathed.

I rubbed my eyes and looked. A huge plane of some sort was making its way across the sky. It looked like it was painted black and made out of a heavy metal. Lower parts of the plane were painted a deep purple. The bow of the plane was shaped like a mask, and was deep silver, like the moon. The wings were also purple, and were strangely shaped like bat's wings. There were three pairs of those wings, getting smaller as they descended in placement of the ship. The shape of it was odd, curved and bent in odd places. As it made its slow way across the stars, we heard its engine groan and hiss. It moved gracefully across the sky, and Paul and I watched, hands held and our eyes reflecting the stars and moons.

As it began to disappear over the horizon, we heard a crack and a boom. Another ship was tailing the first one. This second one was like twenty sizes smaller than the first one, but much faster. It was shaped like an F-15, and was covered in blue and silver paint. The cockpit cover was green, and a symbol was painted on the side right underneath the cockpit. It slowed down and followed the first one at a deliberate speed.

With a loud scream that surprised us both out of our minds, the first ship fired World War II's worth of bullets at the second one. Paul and I watched, mouths open in disbelief as a huge dogfight erupted in front of our eyes. The second one quickly pulled in and out, up and sideways, dodging the shots as they hurtled through the air. It was amazingly graceful and awe-inspiring, and yet at the same time, probably the most terrifying thing I have ever seen.

I shouted at Paul over the thunder of bullets and engines, "If that ship is hit, it's going down right near us! We need to get out of here!" He nodded and pulled me up by my arm, yanking me off the ground. We ran to the path and ducked for cover. My heart was pounding as I looked behind me and saw the second ship pull up and out of sight. As soon as it was gone, the bullets stopped, and the night was silent again. As the birds hesitantly started chirping again, Paul and I made our way back to the cabin, where no one had awakened. It seemed the rocks made our new home surprisingly sound-proof. Paul and I huddled together, unwilling to go to sleep. Eventually, the exhaustion took over and we fell asleep in each other's arms.


	5. Help Arrives in the Form of Peeping Toms

The next morning, I was again the first one awake. I snuggled deeper into Paul's arms and I laid there for a long time, at peace and comfortable. I listened to the sounds of animals waking up and I inhaled the flowers' sweet scent combined with the saltiness of the ocean. The wind made soft sighs as it ran its course through the trees, and distantly I could hear the ocean crashing on the shores of the beach.

I slowly sat up, and sniffed. I might have been imagining it, but last night, I think someone had cried in the middle of the night. It had been a few hours after the dogfight, and I had woken up to someone softly sniffing and sobbing quietly. I didn't want them to know I was awake, so I had just laid there, listening, sad and concerned. Finally, they had stopped and I fell back to sleep again. I unwound Paul's arms from my waist and crouched out of the shelter. I stretched my arms up and side to side as I looked at our home. It was huge, and could easily fit five more people if needed. I suddenly remembered the hot spring we had found yesterday as we searched for Jackie. I made my way, stumbling slightly, to the path that lead to the ocean. From there, after a brisk walk, I walked upstream until I found the hot spring. I did a few yoga poses to wake up, and then I checked the water. It was perfect, not too hot. I glanced cautiously around before I took off my clothes and slid in.

I went underwater for a few seconds and came back up. I quickly finger brushed my hair, and grabbed a flower from the banks. That was my soap. I scrubbed myself down and then just sat there. I closed my eyes and relaxed.

A twig snapped.

My eyes flew open as I crouched down in the water so I wasn't showing anything. I looked around and when I didn't see anything out of the ordinary (what an ironic statement; nothing is ordinary anymore!), I grabbed my clothes off the shore and covered myself as I whisked myself dry and put my clothes back on.

I pulled my fingers through my hair quickly and put my glasses back on. "H-hello?" I stuttered quietly, peering around bushes and trees. Something made the trees rustle and I swear I felt my heart stop beating for a few seconds. I heard a few whispers and mutterings. After a few seconds, I stopped feeling scared, more like annoyed but in a good way, if that makes any sense. I crossed my arms and waited, my eyebrows raised as high as they could go. "Have to come out sometime."

I got my wish when a teenage boy, maybe a little older than me, was apparently pushed out from the brush. I grinned a little when I saw how red his face was. My eyes narrowed in confusion and my head tilted to one side as I took in his appearance, traveling up and down the length of his body. He was blond, with bangs sweeping across his forehead. He had a severely angular face, which looked really funny because of his obvious embarrassment. His eyes were large and slightly almond shaped, and the color was a startling blue. He was pale and thin, although a muscular, healthy thin. He was wearing a forest green hat, which matched the color and material of his tunic he wore over an embroidered white shirt. His pants were also white, and tucked into his knee-height brown boots. To my immense surprise, he had a sheathed sword on his back, and he was carrying a shield decorated in what looked like tribal designs. His left arm had an arm guard on top of the brown gloves he wore that had the fingers cut off. His sheath was held together by a brown leather strap, which crossed over his chest and his belt. He was blushing the deepest color red I have ever seen, the color spreading from his neck to the tips of his… Holy frickin' crap. Elf ears.

Elf ears. The dude was an elf.

I realized he kept nervously looking back from whence he had been pushed out. I made a little tsk-ing sound and brushed past the elf. Before the others could think, I had reached back into the brush, and as soon as my fingers had caught something, I tightened my grip and yanked back. Hard.

Apparently, I had caught three somethings. A small boy, dressed in a white toga with wings (I did not dwell on that fact long- I had no idea how long my stability would last), a short man with a red cap, overalls and a moustache, a pink puff ball with eyes and red shoes (seriously! Come on!), and a little green animal I figured was one of these dudes' pets. As I looked at each one of the people I had snagged, I started giggling as I realized each one was the color of cherries. The pet-thing just yipped when I laughed, started jumping up and down a little. I grinned at it, and then I turned my attention back to the peeping toms.

"Well?" I said simply, waiting for an explanation.

Each of the humans (or near as I could fit them) started stammering and stuttering as one, and I sat down on a rock and started finger-brushing my hair again as they rushed to explain why they had spied on me. I crossed my legs and sighed. _Okay, seriously people. Not that hard to explain it! _I rubbed my eyes. _My head hurts. Am I even awake?_

I watched as they pointed to one another, declaring it was his fault; he wanted to go this way… So on and so forth. The elf was throwing his arms up in exasperation, acting out what had happened preceding this event. The bird-boy was fluttering off the ground a few feet, feathers coming out of his wings and gently resting on the ground. The puff ball just stood there, looking cute. The man with the red cap was speaking with what sounded like an Italian accent, and the animal was rolling around on the ground. I watched it as the people extinguished their blame-throwing. Eventually, they stopped yelling at each other and stood there, watching me watch the green animal.

I sighed and leaned back on the rock, resting my on my elbows. I looked at each one, smiling when I saw the blush still there. I squinted into the rising sun, clearly visible from here to the beach. I sighed, and I sat back up. "So. You guys finished pointing fingers?"

"Well-a, you see, I didn't-"

"Trust me, it wasn't my idea, and Link-"

"We can leave, if you want us to-"

I waved it off, laughing. "It's cool, it's cool. It was a mistake, right? No hard feelings." As they rushed to thank me, I frowned, listening. I thought I had heard something from camp; I made a shushing motion to the people. They immediately stopped talking and listened, trying to hear what I heard.

"_Jessabell! Jessa, where are you?"_

I sighed again. So everyone had woken and apparently thought I split as well. I stood on the rocks and cupped my hands around my mouth and yelled a very loud reply, "_Yeah?"_

"_Holy fucker, finally! Where the hell are you? Get back here!"_

"_Okay! I'm coming!"_ I clambered down from the rocks and smiled at the people. "Looks like you're coming with me, dudes."

I started walking away from the bath, still brushing my hair, when a small voice came from behind, "Your name is Jessabell?"

"Yeah, it is. Why?"

It was bird-boy who had spoken. He had a curious look on his face, and he was still fluttering a few feet above the ground. "Your name means innocent." He landed, and crossed his arms, "If that is so, than you should not be in this world."

I looked at him, a confused expression on my face, and when he met my gaze he didn't pull away like I thought he would. I laughed, saying quietly, "It's not like we wanted to be here, you know." When he shot up again, I made a face and turned to walk. "Come on, dudes. Don't have all day!"

They started walking, and they just looked so funny, all awkward and walking in a line. I raised my eyebrows and turned to lead them, and, as we walked back to the camp, the elf asked, "You said we. Who is 'we'?"

I grinned, knowing that if they thought I was scary, they would be terrified of four- thirteen. Thirteen of us together. I turned and walked backwards, facing them, and answered, "My friends and I. Thirteen all together, and we 'appeared' here two nights ago, in a clearing. That's where we're heading."

"Oh. Wait," he ran to catch up with me and started walking next to me. I glanced at him, surprised. The rest of his group surrounded me, and listened as he asked, "What do you mean 'appeared'?"

"I- I don't know. We just woke up, and we were all alone, in this clearing. We fell asleep in our homes, and woke up in the frickin' middle of nowhere." I looked down, getting depressed, slowly and surely. And then my anger at the unfairness of it all flared up inside me. I struggled to keep it out of my voice as I explained it to them.

Soon after, we arrived in the clearing. Psyche, Amy, Bri, Scoops and Addie were lying on top of our shelter, talking and sunning, while they watched the boys play with that volleyball-coconut they had found last night. It was a game; Aliza, Aaron and Tori on one team and Chase, Caleb and Dylan on the other. It was Aliza's serve, and she completely messed it up and it rolled slowly to us, finally stopping near the elf's feet. I could hear the conversations come to a screeching halt as they realized I had brought strangers here. I looked at the elf, and said, "Go on. Throw it to her." He slowly bent and picked it up.

"To who?"

I pointed Aliza out. She was jumping up and down like an idiot, waving her arms around. He looked at the coconut, then at Aliza, then at me. I nodded encouragingly. And then, with a heave that startled me, he launched that thing into the air, far past Aliza. She stopped and turned to follow it as arched across the sky. She yelled at Aaron, "Get it! Catch that puppy, I dare ya!" She turned quickly and gave a thumbs up to the elf.

Aaron started running, and then, just as he was reaching out to catch it, he tripped and he flew forward, doing a somersault in mid-air and landing on his butt. The coconut landed in his lap, and he stared at it for a few seconds before leaping up, holding the green nut like a war trophy. "YEAH I CAUGHT IT! WHAT NOW! YEAH!"

Everyone was either laughing their butts off, clapping and cheering along with him, or watching the newcomers. Aliza jogged over to me and the group. She raised her hands in greeting. "Wassup, guys?" she asked calmly, unperturbed by the boys and animal behind me.

I high fived her, and said," Sup-e-do-da, Aliza! This is-" As I was gesturing, I realized I didn't know their names. I turned to them and asked.

"Link." The elf said.

"Pit!" Bird-boy chirped, fluttering off the ground (AGAIN). I quickly checked Aliza's reaction- she just crossed her arms and her eyes widened in amazement as she watched him.

"Mario," hat man said, and then he turned to green animal, "and this is-a Yoshi, Kirby." The little thing jumped up and down when he was introduced, and the pink puff said what sounded like, " I was right. Mario did have an Italian accent. I asked him about that while Aliza turned and shouted, "Peeps! Get your asses over here A-SAP!"

Mario asked me curiously, "Do your friends and you always use such language?"

I laughed, and said, "Yes, they do. But not me, I have never used such language in my life, I'm proud to say." And as Tori and Amy neared, I raised my voice slightly, "But those two win the prize!"

"FALSE ADVERTISING!" Amy retaliated, linking arms with Chase. Tori jumped onto my back and said, "I have gotten you to cuss, missy! Yes it is SO fucking true!"

"Yeah right, Tori. I don't think Jessabell will ever cuss in her life." Aaron had now joined us under the shade, and I looked at Link, Pit, and Mario to see their reaction of the crazies I call my friends. Link had a frozen look of 'deer-in-the-headlight' on his face, Mario was just smiling at them all, and Pit was answering questions about his wings. Yoshi was just running up to the people as they arrived, and he freaked out Addie so much, she clung to Bri, who laughed and patted her head.

As soon as everyone was gathered in the shade of the palm trees, questions poured in from all sides. Instead of trying to answer them all, I just plopped down on the dirt where I was and waited for everyone else. All my friends followed my lead without stopping the flow of questions, but the others stopped and hesitantly sat down. I sighed and when my friends didn't stop asking, I shushed them and turned to Mario, since he was obviously the oldest one in his group.

"So, you already know our story. So now meet the people. I'm Jessabell," I said, gesturing to myself and then pointed around the group. "And that's Aaron, Chase, Caleb, Aliza, Addie, Bri, Amy, Tori, Psyche, Scoops, and Paul." As I said each name, they did a little greeting motion, from the standard 'peace' to a little dance.

Pit raised his eyebrows. "Scoops?"

Scoops laughed, her braces flashing in the midday sun. "Yeppers, that's my name. Nickname, technically. I dislike the name my parents gave me at birth."

"Oh. Okay. My name is Pit, and I-" he paused when Tori's hand shot up and she waved it around. "Eh, yes?"

"Okay, sorry if this is like, _totally_ rude, but what the crap are you?"

I pursed my lips at her and Aaron tsked. We were all surprised when he laughed. "An angel. I am an angel."

Tori's expression was priceless. "No frickin' way! SCOOPS!"

"Ack- what?" She looked at Tori, and everyone else in our group smiled wide as they realized what she was going to say.

"HE DOES EXSIST! REPENT NOW OR GOD WILL CAST YOU INTO HELL! SEVENTH CIRCLE, MAN! DON'T BE AN ATHEIST ANYMORE; I WANT TO PARTY IN HEAVEN WITH YOU, CHIQUA!" Tori was pointing at Scoops and squealing excitedly. Scoops had her hands up in an 'I give up' pose, and her face was frozen is shock at Tori's outburst. I looked between them and I started laughing with everyone else when Scoops breathed, "What the crap, Tori?"

"Wait, now I'm confused. Who is 'he'?" Pit asked, facing Tori, who was still pointing at Scoops. Tori frowned deeply, crossing her arms. "God. Your God?"

Pit cocked and shook his head. "No, no. I am an angel of the Goddess of Light, Paluntena. Her army's general, in fact," he said, his chest expanding only the slightest bit. Tori's face fell. "Sorry, man. Er, angel."

I laughed along with everyone else, and Mario introduced himself and Yoshi, who was trying to get Amy to pet him on the head. He somewhat succeeded as she hesitantly tapped his head a few times, and then put her hands back in her lap. Link introduced himself and asked, "Do you all live in that hut over there?" he pointed to our cave-man dwelling.

"Yeah. We moved those stones yesterday afternoon to make that. Well, the guys did."

"And no thank yous! How could you? Tsk, tsk."

"Whatever. Last night? So did."

"Don't lie, Jessabell. It will only hurt you later in life."

I shook my head, grinning. "Ignore him, please." When Aaron protested even more, I looked at Amy, who immediately got it and moved right in front of him, dragging Chase so Aaron was completely out of sight. His arms made large circles before falling from sight.

I looked at Mario. He was chuckling, and Link had raised his eyebrows. "Is this how you always act with your friends?"

I burst out laughing as answers poured in from everyone, including Aaron. He shoved Amy out of the way, and she squealed and fell into Chase's lap. Scoops was explaining how lunch went at East; Aliza and Addie were telling them about how they had no idea because they didn't go to East; and Bri was nodded dramatically. I looked at Link. "Does that answer your question?"

He grinned, flashing me brilliant white teeth. "Yes. I have only one more." He put his head in his hand, looked around at us all and asked seriously, "Do you know how to live off the land?" When everyone looked around obviously avoiding the question, embarrassed, Link's smile grew even wider. "Well then, I guess I'll have to teach you."


	6. A Lesson in Survival

For the next few hours, Link directed, corrected, improved, approved, disapproved, and grew our knowledge about surviving in the wilderness until we could answer every question about anything in the wild. He taught us how to hunt (boys' job), cook, clean, make clothes, how to recognize if something was edible and how to track game. We even started our own little veggie garden with seeds Link had found when we searched for food. I have to admit, it was probably the coolest set of lessons I had ever went through. By the time night fell, we had a roaring blaze going in the middle of the clearing, with stones serving as benches. Kirby, for some extremely strange reason, had a giant pot on him, so we made an exceptionally delicious stew of meat (the boys were forbidden to tell us what animal, in case we refused to take a bite), potatoes, carrots, and a variety of little mushrooms. It was amazing how good something can taste when you make it completely from scratch.

We were all seated around the crackling fire, Smashers and humans. Caleb had entertained us with a drum solo he had been working on for drum line. He used a log and sturdy braches for his sticks. Aliza had just finished with an extremely hilarious comedy sketch from Saturday Night Live, and by the time she had taken a bow to our roaring applause, Link, Mario, and Pit were all wiping tears from their eyes. After that, conversation just flew, and we found out all about their quest. I frowned when Pit came to the part of deciding to stop following the cargo which held Mario's girlfriend, his brother, and a little kid to help us. Surely we weren't _that_ desperate…

As I asked him, Kirby suddenly swelled up and began squeaking "_Poyo! Poyo poyo poy! Po poy poyo poy!" _Over and over again, much to the bewilderment of us and the enjoyment of Mario, Link and Pit. Kirby yelled for a good five minutes, after which he just stopped and stared at me, as if saying _What do you say to THAT, huh? _I am positive my face reflected everyone else's as I breathed, my face frozen in confusion, "_What_ was that again?"

Mario laughed loudly, his belly shaking. I swear, sometimes he seriously reminded me of Santa. Creepy. "He just-a said that he found the cargo a few minutes north-a from-a here," he said. I shook myself out of the trance and looked at him. "Oh. So you don't think this giant penguin-"

"_POYO."_

"Right. Sorry. So this… Kind Dedede isn't, like, doing anything bad?"

Link nodded. "Positive. Yoshi and Mario kept a watch on the fort while we worked."

Caleb said suddenly, coming out of a very deep thinking phase, "Can we help?" We all looked towards them, and their expressions were suddenly worried. _Just like that, the mood switches from a happy party with friends to a tense battle discussion. Always good._ I sighed.

"Uh, I don't think-" Pit started quietly.

"Dudes, come on! We want to help, you helped us-"

"Surely we can help in some way?"

"We _can _do some things really well, like annoy the shit out of people. Could that even come in handy, I wonder?"

"We're smart. Well, most of us, anyway."

"Don't even start, yo."

"We could fight, couldn't we?"

Pit, Mario, and Link waited until all the statements were extinguished. Aliza, Aaron, Bri, Chase, Tori, Dylan and Caleb had plenty. Psyche, Addie, Scoops, and Paul had none; they just stared into the fire or at the night sky, thunder clouds brimming over. I just sat there, looking around at everyone. Link was biting his lip and Mario had folded his arms, bringing to mind a stern but loving father. Pit was fluttering his wings anxiously. Kirby was looking between Mario and Tori, who was closest to him and was staring him down, waiting for an answer. Yoshi was curled asleep next to my stone.

Mario spoke first. "No. You-a can't. No!" He said angrily, as several people started to protest. He put up his hand and they all fell silent, more than a little surprised. "We can't-a die, so we can-a go on as-a long as-a we need to without giving up our lives. You, on the other hand, can die easily, with a sword to the stomach or an arrow to the heart-a. We can't put you in that danger. I would feel too guilty if we sent you ahead."

Silently, I agreed with him. I mean, I would love to help, sure, but not if it meant dying at age fifteen. Tori and Aaron would not let it rest, so by the time everyone crawled into our shelter to sleep, they were both still dropping pretty heavy hints that they could help. I frowned as they kept at it for an hour, and I finally just sat up, crawled over to them, and cuffed them both on the head. They fell quiet pretty quick after that.

Link and Paul were on my right and left. Link tapped me on the shoulder and I turned, albeit with some difficulty, to face him. "Yeah?" I whispered, trying to make out his face in the darkness. All I could see were his ears and blue earrings. "Try to get it out of their heads. They can't help."

I frowned. "What can I do that, say, Psyche or Addie can't?"

"You have more control over Tori, Aaron, Amy and Bri than anyone."

"So?"

"So you can make them drop it! I can't let you all get hurt. I don't know, even though we've only known each other for little less than a day, we act like old friends. Mario was right, you know."

"I know. But it's their pride. You helped us, so they want to help you back."

"I can tell. Just distract them until we get back."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, as soon as you all go to sleep, Pit, Mario, Yoshi, Kirby and I are leaving to go to the valley. We'll come back. Hopefully with Peach, Luigi and Ness in tow." I could see the faint outline of his face. He was staring intently at me, as if willing me to go to sleep. "Just go to sleep."

I nodded, and turned on my back. I didn't go to sleep for a while, though. I just stared at the stone ceiling and thought. After a few hours, I could hear Mario, Pit, Link, Yoshi and Kirby stir and begin to get up. I closed my eyes when a shadow passed over me. They started whispering faintly and I heard Yoshi wail softly. Mario said goodbye in Italian, and Pit even blessed us in the name of his Goddess, which was pretty cool to hear, because he spoke it in the language of the Heavens. I turned into a more comfy position and I heard them freeze, waiting. I smiled just a tiny bit as someone hesitantly whispered, "Is she awake?" Eventually, I fell asleep to them gathering weapons and trying to not to trip over us.

In the morning, I was shaken awake by Tori. OK, can I just point something out? Being shaken awake by an extremely pissed off teen? Not really fun. Her jaw was jutting out and her eyes were gleaming. Oh, yes. Made as heck.

"Where are they?" She demanded.

I frowned, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I sat up. "Where are who?"

"You fucking know well."

"Temper, Tori dear. Uh.. Oh! Right. They left in the middle of the night to continue on with their quest."

Her jaw dropped. "And they didn't say goodbye?"

I opened my mouth to talk, but was cut off by Amy's excited shout. "GUYS! Guys, get out here! Wake everyone up! Holy shit, man!"

"Amy, remember! Crap is not holy, unless it is Jesus's. Jesus's holy crap!"

Amy started giggling, and said, "We are all so going to hell, aren't we?"

"Yess, we are." Scoops woke up and wearily looked at us all. "Why is Amy freaking out? Where are Mario, Link, and Pit? And Yoshi and Kirby?"

"When isn't Amy freaking out?" Bri was stretching, simultaneously kicking awake everyone else. We all lumbered out to where Amy was standing. She turned to face us, and said, "I think Pit left us some presents, guys!" She moved out of our vision.

Everyone gasped at exactly the same time. _Pit's blessing_, I thought, the idea running through my mind over and over. In the middle of the clearing, on the cold, dewy grass, was a pile of camping tools, from eating supplies like plates, pans, forks and cups made out of what looked like clay, to blankets and pillows. A few days ago, this would have been junk lying around our houses. But now, it was a treasure trove. Each one was faintly gleaming with a gold tinge, and even though everything looked normal, just by looking at it, I could tell that they were blessed.

We spent the whole day arranging the supplies. What was amazing was that there was a really cool type of wood that was sturdy, stable, and was easy to build with. By afternoon, we had made a storage area, food safe, another sleeping area, and even a little dining area. It was incredible. We still had to gather and hunt, so while the boys checked all the traps Link had set up, us girls picked berries, vegetables, and fruits, putting them in baskets from the pile. By mid-afternoon, we had started making dinner, which comprised of another stew, mashed potatoes, and a salad. Dessert was fruits and berries.

Everyone was happy, shouting and joking with everyone. Old mistakes were forgiven, and new friendships were made strong by the unity of surviving together. It was when we were making dinner that Psyche brought up we should thank Pit's Goddess for blessing us. We all agreed on a dinner prayer. It was probably the most fun I have ever had with them so far.

We soon got bored and so we ran to the beach, taking our coconut to play volleyball. I noticed, with some surprise, how much we have already changed. We were all slightly skinnier, more serious than we were a few days ago, and thankful for everything. We were also already stronger and more aware of our surroundings.

The game was cut short by a surprise thunderstorm. Our humor restored, we ran back to camp, screaming and yelping like little kids. We ate in the dining area, dripping wet and cracking jokes at each other's expense. The day passed by quickly, and soon, we were all crawling back into the now extremely warm cave, stuffed and lined with blankets and pillows. We pulled some leaves over the entrance so the rain wouldn't totally get in. The consequent darkness was cozy, and soon everyone was asleep. Except me, again. I leaned against the wall, thinking. I had totally forgotten about the dogfight. I should have told them, that was the ship they were after. _Stupid, stupid, stupid. _Eventually, I fell asleep, in the comfy position of leaning against the rocks.

I was awakened by a bloodcurdling scream.

I sat up, almost banging my head on other people as they scrambled outside, pulling themselves out of sleep. "What the crap was that?" was the most common yell as we tore through the clearing in search of the source. It was still raining and thundering. In between each clap of thunder, we heard the scream again. We needed no light, and by now we knew the clearing well enough that when the scream resounded in our ears again, we turned abruptly and ran towards the sound. My heart pounding, my muscles complaining, and my breath jagged, I was at the head of the pack.

The clearing had several exits, one to the beach, one to a section of banana and other fruit trees, and one that hung perilously close to the edge of a cliff, dropping down for a few hundred feet. The latter was the one we tore across, panting. Fear swelled up in my throat as we heard the scream again, closer than ever. It didn't sound human, more like a frightened and hurt animal.

We rounded a bend and suddenly stopped in our tracks. Since the footpath had no pavement of any kind, the rain had made the path mud, and it had fallen away in the night, creating an extremely perilous fall. Rocks jutted out from the edge, and Scoops was hanging onto a jagged piece of rock, her hands cut and trembling. She saw us, and whimpered, her strength failing fast. I acted first, moving towards her as fast as I could without joining her.

"What the crap happened?"

She was crying, her voice shaking. "It was her, it was her! She pushed me, the bitch!"

I shook my head, choosing to wonder about that later. "Okay, hun, hold on tight! We're coming!" I turned and yelled at the boys, "Rope! Go get some rope!" Aaron, Chase, and Caleb turned and sprinted back, leaving everyone else on the path.

Scoops screamed again as the rock began to dislodge from the mud. It made a sucking, slurping sound, and I knew that Scoops was going down a hundred feet to rocks if we didn't do anything. I shouted at Bri, "Hold my legs, tight!" She leaped forward, grabbing my legs. Amy, Tori, and Addie in turn grabbed each other by the waist and Amy hooked Bri around the knees. _The rope is not going to come fast enough_. I launched forward as the rock gave up it hold and fell out. Baring my teeth, I made a wild grab for Scoops' flailing arms as she went down. I caught her by the very tips of my fingers, my nails cutting into her wrist. I heard Caleb and Aaron yelling they got the rope, and exclaiming at our daisy chain. I grunted as I felt my wrist pop out of place, but I would not let go. Scoops' rain and mud slicked hand was doing that for me, though. "NO!" I screamed as I felt her slid out of my grip. I reached towards her one more time, trying to secure my hold. I heard Bri yelling at the chain to pull backward as hard they could, and fast. _Both of us can't last forever_.

I screamed a little as another hand flashed around her wrist. Except the hand wasn't a hand. It was covered in a light brown fur; it was a paw. I tightened my grip as this other person yelled in my ear, "I have her, go get that rope!" I nodded and Bri released me. I grabbed the rope from Aaron and as I tossed it over the edge, near Scoops. She was still crying, but now I could see from what. Blood was streaking along her skin, staining the mud an ugly color. It was coming from underneath the paw of the stranger, from five separate areas. I realized that he had claws. I yelled, "DUDE! Retract the claws! You're hurting her!"

I was stunned when he replied, his voice gruff with effort, "No! If I do, she'll fall to her death! She'll hurt even more if that happens!" I argued with him until another voice said, "It's okay, Fox. I got her." Another figure leaned over the edge and took the first one's place. I could hear Scoops sigh with relief as the claws disappeared from her skin. I might have been imagining this, but I think the second person had feathers on his hand, for some reason.

I tied the end of the rope around my waist. Bri latched onto my legs again as I yelled at Scoops, "Grab the rope!" She reached for it and when she had it firmly in both hands, the stranger released her and I saw the blood spurt from deep wounds. I turned around and said to Bri, "Ready, PULL!" As I leaned back, pulling, they pulled on me and eventually, Scoops' head appeared over the mud. She was gripping the rope with a death hold, her face white and eyes closed. Aaron, Caleb, Psyche and Aliza were waiting to heave her over the edge. We all collapsed, exhausted, onto the ground.

A shadow loomed over us. I couldn't really make out who or what was standing over us, but it looked like three shapes. The moon suddenly broke through the clouds, throwing them into light. What I saw would have freaked me out a few days ago, but now I just sighed and accepted it.

A fox, a bird, and a monkey were standing over us, arms crossed. The bird was smiling, and the fox was looking grimly at us. The monkey was just standing there.

I should really get used to this sort of thing, shouldn't I?


	7. Dogfight Uncovered

I crawled over to Scoops, and I grimaced slightly when I felt a shooting pain go through my arm like wildfire. I ignored it and pressed through, and sat next to her, head on my knees with my arms wrapped around my legs. The rain was still pouring, and every few seconds lightning flashed and thunder cackled. The three strangers still stood in shadows, arms crossed. I waited for Scoops to speak.

Eventually, she did. Her voice was small and hoarse, and she was shivering violently, even though it was extremely moist and humid out in the rain. She sighed and wiped her eyes, and said, "It was Jackie."

Even though I couldn't see the others, I felt the change almost immediately, as if it was a palpable thing and could be touched. I was surprised when Psyche actually hissed. Tori's hands were rolled into fists, making the knuckles white. The girls were all seated or standing near Scoops, and the boys were a few feet away, keeping a careful and watchful guard. Aaron huffed and Paul laughed nervously.

I sat still, waiting for Scoops to continue. The strangers were all but forgotten. "I was just walking to grab my jacket, cause I left it at one of our trees and I was really friggin cold. But I guess I was so tired I took the wrong path … Anyway, I realized like right here and started to turn around, and she was standing there like a friggin stalker. I was so freaked I didn't do anything. And then she said, 'One by one, they all were killed…'" Scoops made a shoving motion with her bloodied hands, "'…and you'll be the first to go.'"

It was silent except for the pitter-patter of the rain, and occasional boom of the distant thunder. The strangers, from what little I could see of them, had unfolded their arms and were looking stunned, whether from the story or the sight of Scoops' bloody hands I couldn't tell.

Aaron broke the silence first. He kicked at a pebble, and as it rolled down the muddy slopes he spat, "She's psycho, I swear to God. Absolutely friggin crazy." Everyone moved a little as he swore under his breath. I side-hugged Scoops while Amy and Bri tried to clean her hands with a little water from a puddle nearby. I watched the water turn red, and in it's reflection I could see Tori stand and cross her arms, regarding the strangers with a strangely mingled expression of distrust and gratitude.

One of them stepped forward. I sucked in a breath at the sight of him. He was a dark blue bird, wearing a gray jacket and a red jumpsuit, with a gun holstered on his hip. He was wearing something like a Bluetooth headset, and a monocle-type thingy was over his eyes. Black and dark gray boots to just under his knees completed the look. His eyes were narrowed, and he matched Tori's arrogant stance.

Tori returned his little smile with a smirk, and she asked, "Who the hell are you?"

The bird unfolded his arms and gestured behind him without looking, and said, "I am Falco, and this is Fox and Diddy Kong." I met Scoops' confused face with a frown. I leaned towards her ear and whispered, "He has some creative parents, doesn't he?" She stifled a laugh with hasty coughing. The bird didn't even notice the exchange. He went right on staring Tori down in a death match glare. I looked at the others. The fox was the one who had cut Scoops trying to pull her up, and I saw him grin a little as his friend squared off with a rebellious teenage girl. We met eyes and I had to press a hand to my mouth to keep from laughing. I glanced back at the staring contest.

Falco spoke again. "Who are you?"

When Tori didn't answer, Aaron stepped forward and told them our story and names. While he was explaining, I took Scoops' left hand, the one that was significantly worse, and examined it. I took of my headband and wrapped it gently in the cloth, securing it with a hair tie. It was still bleeding, although it was already considerably better. As I examined her other hand, Amy bent down and whispered in my ear, "Show them the note. We should have shown Link and them, too, but, you know. To late for that, eh?" I nodded as she straightened back up. I gingerly touched the worn paper in my back pocket.

Fox spoke this time, as soon as Aaron had finished. "I only see thirteen of you. Where is this Jackie girl?"

At once, the change in the attitude rose again, so much so that Fox and Falco exchanged looks. I sighed, rubbing my temple, and Tori turned to look at me. We had a silent conversation with just our eyes, the consequence of years of being best friends. The wind whistled through our hair as we stared at each other, not once breaking the gaze. Everyone was silent and watching the exchange. Nothing could break it. I nodded and stood slowly, and took the paper out. I held it between two fingers only, as if it were a dirty towel. I handed it to Falco, and he took it, not before glancing at me with a cold, distrusting look. I melded my face into a poker face, not betraying any emotion as he took it and opened it slowly, deliberately. As Fox and Diddy crowded around him, I saw their faces steadily lose the arrogance and become grim with horror. I made my way back to the group, and we all stood, facing them with arms crossed.

If this had been in a movie, I would have laughed at the awkwardness and distrust radiating from either side. Everyone was now standing, and whispered conversations ran wild. Only Tori and I stood silent and still, watching, like assassins watching their target.

As Falco looked up, his eyes searched for my face, and I obediently stepped forward, palm up. He dropped it and I could see his eyes from underneath my hair, sympathetic, curious, and only a little unsure of what to do. I lowered my eyes demurely as I stepped back. Bri broke the stretching silence as Falco, Fox and Diddy took in our predicament. "Well, this has been fun and all, but I am exhausted. It's like, what, one in the morning?"

Fox answered before Falco could retort, "Twelve thirty." He glanced up, and looked at each of us separately. "You are not afraid?"

Aaron shrugged, and drawled, "You really can't be scared of her. She's not scary, just a tiny bit cuckoo." Paul nodded in agreement.

Falco asked, "Where do you live? I hate to admit it, I'm curious."

I smiled a little as Tori held up a slim finger and said, "_Une momento, _please." She clapped her hands and said, "HUDDLE!" We all surrounded her and put our heads in the center. "So, what's our game plan?" asked Caleb, taking his hat off and squeezing the water out of the soaked material. Tori looked at me. "What do you say, Jessa?"

I sucked my lip in frowning. "I say we can trust them. They helped rescue Scoops!" I added quickly as protests came in. "They know about Jackie now, so they can help with that to. I say we take them to the hut, while Scoops and…" I paused, looking for an escort for her, "…and Aaron go to the springs to clean up," I decided, not missing the look Amy and Bri passed each other, lips pressed together. Even in the middle of a crisis, we can still put people together. "They are Smasher-people, like Mario and Link and Pit. They can help protect us if need be. They might even be able to teach us how to protect ourselves." I looked at Tori, and asked, "Anything else?"

She paused and cocked her head, thinking. "Nope. Okay. BREAK!" We all wearily sighed as she clapped again. Falco had returned to his arrogant posture, and he raised his eyebrows as we came out of the huddle. He sighed loudly, reminding me a bit of Aaron. "Are you quite finished yet?"

Tori stepped forward again, and put her hands on her hips. "You said you were curious to see where we lived. Are you or aren't you? Cause if keep acting like an asshole, we might just leave you here."

I gaped at her bravery, and so did Fox. His eyes and mouth were open as he watched his friend narrow his eyes and his winged hand flashed to his gun. I hissed at Tori. For a few heartbeats, it was silent yet again. And then he laughed loudly and good-heartedly. We all breathed a sigh of relief and hesitantly joined in, not really sure if we were supposed to. Falco chortled, "Alright then, I stop. Lead on."

I raised my eyebrows at this sudden change in mood. Fox sighed and started walking as Tori turned on her heels and nearly sprayed Falco with mud. As she marched away, Falco asked us, "Is she always like that?" After a pause of looking around at each other, we all started to laugh for real this time, and Falco took that as a yes. "Wow, I feel sorry for you guys. You have to keep up with that lovely temper!" I glanced at Amy, and her face matched mine exactly. I knew as soon as we were alone, that statement would be dissected and examined in every possible light. For now, though, we just raised our eyebrows at each other.

We grinned as we heard Tori shout through the rain and trees, "Well? Are you coming or not?"

As Fox and Falco passed me, I looked up and I felt my mouth open and my eyes widen. I looked around for Paul, who was in the back of the group and clearly waiting for me. I continued to stare at it, my mind whizzing and nearly screaming with surprise.

On each of Fox's and Falco's sleeves, barely visible in this light, I saw the same symbol Paul and I had seen of the smaller ship when we saw the dogfight.

He walked quickly to me, and caught my arm. "What? What is it?" I shook my head and motioned for him to walk next to me. I caught up to Fox, who looked extremely kinder and more smiley than his friend. I tapped him on the shoulder. He didn't jump at all, even though he hadn't seen or heard me coming. He turned his head and regarded me with green eyes. "Yeah?"

I bent in close, my eyes shining and whispered, so only Paul and Fox could hear, "Are you a pilot?"

He looked immensely surprised. He frowned at my knowing, and asked, "Yeah, actually, I am. But how did you…"

Paul cut him off, and said, "The symbol on your sleeve. It matches the one we saw on the ship a few days ago."

As Fox's frown deepened, I hurried to explain. "Paul and I saw it during the night. A big huge dogfight between a smaller ship that was shaped sorta like an F-15, and a massive ship that had bat wings. Was that you?"

Fox scratched his fur between his ears. He sighed and closed his eyes. I had to grab his elbow and steer him away from a tree before he could hit it. He nodded thanks and said, "Yeah, that was me. Did you… did you see when I went down?"

We froze, and shook our heads. Paul said slowly, "We figured that since we couldn't see the stars because of all the lasers being fired at you, it wasn't safe and we ran back to camp."

He nodded, and said, "Whoever is captaining that ship doesn't care for waste of bullets. I got around those pretty easily, but this arm-thing came out of nowhere and went right through my starboard wing." He closed his eyes as if in pain, and he stopped walking. Paul and I also paused, waiting for him to continue. Without opening his eyes, he sighed, "That was my father's ship, too."

I put my hand over my heart, and said quietly, "Fox, dude, I'm so sorry. Is there anything we can do?"

He opened his eyes and met my gaze with a harsh stare, "Not unless you know how to fix a damaged Arwing engine, with model 8-G parts made out of pure strontium metal, maxing out a speed of 45 miles per hour, and-"

I put my hands up hastily and said, "Alright, alright, I get it. No fix for the ship."

Paul chuckled and said, "Yeah, we would help, but you know how expensive strontium is these days." We laughed a little, and Fox asked the question I had been hoping he wouldn't and said, "Why were just you two out there?"

I bit my lip and tried not look at Paul, but I did and Fox sure as heck did not miss that. "Oh. Ohoho." He chuckled, "I get it, I get it."

I looked at Paul again and I could see, through the light wafting through the leaves, he had gone pale under his tan. "Dude, please don't tell anyone."

"Why?"

I sighed and rubbed my head. "It's a long story." I said wearily, resting my head on Paul's shoulder.

Fox spread his hands and said, "Looks to me like you've got nothing but time around here."

I sighed again and Paul told him the story of his rise and fall with Amy and Addie. By the end, Fox's face was confused but amused at the same time. He bit his lip and struggled not to laugh. I frowned and reached over and pinched him on the elbow. He laughed and pushed me away, rubbing his arm. "Okay, okay, I won't tell. But I don't get why. If you guys are friends and like each other, why doesn't she accept it?"

I sighed and looked at him in the darkness. "Cause it's Amy, that's why." I could hear both Paul and Fox chuckle as I left it at that.

Fox, Falco and Diddy only stayed long enough for breakfast and a quick run-down on how to do hand-to-hand combat. Apparently, they too had someone to rescue. They told us the gist of the story, and then they were off, heads bent in discussion and passing us curious glances over their shoulders. I was actually glad that they left rather quickly. I was afraid Tori would claw Falco's eyes out if they had to be in the same clearing for to long. Either that, or Falco would have blasted her into oblivion.

For the rest of the day, we gathered food and talked about what we thought was going on, and why we seemed to keep running into important figures of the story being played out right in front of us. Scoops and Aaron announced their status as a couple, and Paul and I exchanged looks of amusement at that. Addie ingeniously made a split from wood and leftover cloth for me, and while it did leave me rather helpless, I could still help gather.

That was the first night I started having the dreams.


	8. New Threats

_The dreams always started in complete darkness. Then the dark would fade, ever so slightly, to reveal a man hovering above the ground. Yeah, I said hovering. The man wasn't really a man, though. It seemed he was made up of a hologram, light blue and flickering. He was huge, at least the size of a small skyscraper. His head hung down, and his arms were wrapped around his body. One leg was pulled up, like a flamingo. It looked like he was in pain, or hurt, or sad, or something. It made me want to go up and hug him. _

_But I couldn't, and even if I could, he emitted evil, radiating from his very existence. What was strange was that he was never alone. He held five gold chains in his hand, and these chains were attached to a large hand. A hand that was by itself, not attached to anything, not even an arm. Just a gloved hand. The chains had cruel sharpened tips on them, and each finger of the hand had a tip deeply implanted just above the second knuckle. It was awful, because even though it was just a hand, I could tell it was in pain. The holographic man and the hand were always there, while the figure below them, always the smallest, changed. Sometimes it was a small, fat, mustached man. Other times it was what looked like a turtle with a spiked shell and spiky red hair. But most of the time it was tall, dark man, also with red hair. His hair was combed and in a headdress, it looked like. It would have been funny on anyone else, but on him it just looked deadly. His skin was a dark forest green, contrasting deeply with his bright hair. His face looked like it was carved from wood, it was so expressionless. He always wore black armor, gilded with gold around the edges. His cape was dark purple and it was ripped a little on the bottom edge. A sheathed sword completed the dark look. He was like the Darth Vader of medieval times._

_I would have run, run as fast as I possibly could have, far away from the evil trio. But I couldn't move. It was as if the blue man wanted me there, to spy on his meetings. _

_What was extremely odd was that the men (and turtle) never spoke directly to the blue man. They always spoke to the hand, and the blue man would twitch or jerk the chains, causing the hand to reply as he wanted. The first few times I had the dream, I couldn't figure out what the heck they were doing. Now I know that the blue man was the secret master of the operation they were carrying out. The hand was his puppet, and the men and turtle had no or very little idea the blue man was behind their master._

_Tonight it was again the Darth Vader. He crossed his arms, waiting for an order or question from the hand. _

_It came. "How many more areas until the world is completely submerged?" The hand did not speak like I could, considering he had no mouth. He spoke in your mind, loud, clear, and strong. _

"_A few more areas, my Lord. We just need the ocean and the points in the sky you have commanded, and as soon as the R.O.B.s have extinguished their usefulness, the Ancients Isle shall be attacked as well." Darth Vader's voice was low and gravely, and it made my spine shiver and goosebumps appear on my arms and legs. I rubbed my arms and shivered. _

"_And the Smashers. How many of them are out of the way?"_

_I was surprised when Darth hesitated. "Three, my Lord. Peach, Luigi, and Ness. We are trying to get the rest, but-"_

_The fury of blue man was palpable. He yanked on the chains, his expression furious. A lesser man would have turned tail and ran. Darth, however, just waited it out._

"_Only three? After the weeks I have given you, more than enough time to destroy all those against me, you only have three. How do you plan to get the rest in time?"_

"_We have set a trap, my Lord. Whenever they-"_

"_No. Not enough, Ganondorf! You need bait." The blue man grinned evilly, and I could tell he knew where to get this 'bait'._

"_Where shall I find some that attracts them all?"_

"_In the jungle, there is an encampment of humans. Several of the Smashers have met them already and seemed to have taken a liking to them. Bring them here, but make sure the Smashers know the humans are in danger."_

"_How many are there, Master?"_

"_Thirteen total. And, lucky you. You get some help." said the hand, and as if on cue, a shape materialized out of the shadows. I frowned and clenched my fists as I realized that it was Jackie, her hair frizzy and clothes tattered. Besides that, however, she looked well and happy, not like us. We were sunburned, ragged, and dirty. _

"_How shall she help?"_

"_She was the only one to answer my call to them. I have been keeping an eye on this group since they arrived here. I don't know how they came, but they will be of great help to us. Jackie can lead you to them. Take them by surprise, they are strong and clever."_

"_Are there a few that will ensure the Smashers falling into the trap?"_

_The blue man smiled, and gave a light tug on the chains. The hand shuddered and answered Ganondorf's question. "Yes, I should think any of the girls would do."_

"_What are the exact longitude and latitude, my Lord?"_

""_26 east, 70 north. Send the Halberd to capture them."_

_Ganondorf bowed, and looked up sharply when Jackie said, "One of them is here, Master."_

"_Where?" Both Ganondorf and the hand spoke at the same time. Jackie pointed a stubby arm at where I was standing, and her eyes met with mine. I shuddered but did not look away. Ganondorf hissed and put a large hand on his hilt. He stopped as the hand said, "Do not worry, Ganondorf. She will forget this when she wakes up. Wake up now, child." I frowned as he tried to speak with compassion of a father, and struggled as my body started to follow his command, ignoring my mind. _

I sat up, sweat dripping down my face. And no wonder, with Paul, Tori, and Aliza surrounding me, their limp arms and bodies thrown over each other and me. I pushed them off, not jumping when they all started in their sleep. I waited until they were settled again before standing and moving out of the hut. I breathed in deeply as fresh air hit my face, and I stopped sweating. I stretched, up and down as I tried to remember why I had woken so suddenly. Must have been an animal, or maybe someone moved or talked in their sleep. What was strange was that for the first time in five days I didn't have a nightmare that has been interrupting my sleep for the last few nights. I frowned as a memory skimmed the top of my mind, and then disappeared as quickly as it had come. I looked up at the stars. It looked to be nearly dawn, so I decided to wake everyone up for the day. I walked back into the stuffy heat of the cabin, and used a pillow to slap everyone up. As their protests filled the morning air, I smiled at them innocently. Tori sat up, yawning hugely and nearly smacking Bri in the face. Amy and Chase had fallen asleep in each others arms and were hastily sitting up, Amy blushing a deep red. Caleb and Dylan were busy tickling Addie awake, and her swats to disengage them failed miserably. Aaron was already starting his day by arguing with Scoops about something. Psyche laughed as she told them they would be the only couple in the world to argue about everything and still like each other.

As we climbed from our beds, hastily trying to brush hair or scrub dirt off of clothes before we ventured into the day. I turned and looked at them following me. _Ugh, we are so dirty. We should clean._ Again, a faint ripple surged across my memory and vanished.

All the girls were up for a scrub-down and so, leaving the boys to do the work, we ran to the spring and quickly washed, not before checking for more blushing Smashers. We walked back to camp the long way, along the beach and up the cliff, Scoops clutching at Addie's arm as we walked and talked. We were loud and jeering at each other's expense.

As we rounded the last corner before the camp appeared, Amy froze and grabbed out, nearly throttling Bri around the neck. "Look look look look look look!" She cried, pointing.

"What the fuck, girl?" Bri asked, rubbing her sore neck and glaring at her friend.

"Something's down there! A frickin' big huge something!"

I peered over the edge, cautious, aware of everyone holding their breath behind me. Aliza squinted into the sun, and after a few seconds she sighed and leaned back. "I can't see anything, someone else try."

I leaned forward in her place. As I started to slip a little, they grabbed at my shirt and pants and held me there. I pushed my glasses up on the bridge of my nose.

At the very edge of the chasm, where the lush green of the jungle gave way to the harsh browns of the desert, a massive ship was slowly appearing. As it came closer, slowly but surely, the detail of it appeared. A silver bow, followed by a black body and purple bat wings. A haze of red clouds followed it, enveloping the rest of the ship.

And it was pointed straight at us.

"_Crap."_ As they pulled me up, my mind was churning and my heart was pounding. Last night Fox told us that ship was controlled by their enemy. And so, in a way, ours.

"What did you see?"

"What was it?"

"You look so freaked right now, Jessa. What happened?"

I breathed in, quietly, as if the ship was above our heads and not hundreds of miles away. Although, by the looks of it, it was coming in fast. I told them, in a shaky voice, what I saw. A moment of silence, and then bursts of terror pierced the air.

Amy paled. "We have no way of knowing if it's coming towards us, right? I mean…" Her voice died out as she realized no one was listening.

"What should we do?" I asked Bri, since she was the only calm one. She sighed and crossed her arms slowly. "Wait. Just wait, until we can know for sure. If it isn't, awesome. But just in case it is, then we gather what we need and when we can tell, we either run or stay put." We nodded at her, and slowly made our way back to the boys. I kept looking back at the ship, watching it as it made its way across the horizon, and somewhere scarily close to us.

* * *

**Eep, scary. O.O**

**I really like how this story is turning out! A lot better than A New Beginning cause this one is more tightly fitted. Hey! Don't forget to review, I fear I shall go mad with no feedback, man. Constructive and critical reviews totally welcome; welcome with open arms and cookies!**

**Merci beacoup for reading! **


	9. Two Milliseconds

**I know this is going to get annoying (very soon very fast), but please don't forget to review, and enjoy this chapter that came out of a two day drive from Florida back home! **

* * *

As we picked our way back to camp, the air seemed to prickle with tension and fear. Every twitter of a bird, every rustle of the wind made us press in tight together, huddled against the unknown. If we listened hard enough, we could actually hear it, the steady drone and hum of the massive engines, slowly getting closer. My wrist was sore and throbbing, but I could care less about that now.

When we entered back in the clearing, Aaron and Dylan looked up from where they were crouched in the mud, apparently tracking something. We broke into a run to the cabin, ignoring their shouts of annoyance as their quarry slipped away into the jungle.

"God dammit, girls! Try to be quiet, will you?" Aaron groaned, standing and walking over to us as we tore through the cabin, trying to order and pack things as fast as we could. "What the hell is going on here?"

When none of us answered, he tapped Amy on the shoulder. "Hello? I want to know, too!"

Amy shook him off, trying to cram hunting and gathering knives into a leather sack, one of the few Pit had left us. She tore his knife out of his hand and he acted instinctively, jerking it up to get it out of her grasp. She gave a little cry as its sharpened edge cut across her palm, blood sprouting up like rubies on the pale skin. As she held her hand flat, her lip quivering slightly and struggling not to sob, I turned and grabbed the now bloody knife out of Aaron's slack grip. "Alright, alright! Aaron, where are the others?"

He gestured outside with his head, his wide eyes on the cut he had made in his ex's hand. I sighed and gently shoved him on his chest to get him to move. "Go get them. We have something important to tell you all. Go!" I football-shoved him out of the hut when he didn't move, and then handed him the knife. "Clean that, as well."

I turned back around and quickly ducked as Bri tossed another leather pouch to Psyche, who caught it without even looking and shoved it in another bag. I stared open-mouthed before shaking myself and standing upright again, crossing my arms at the chaos around me. Tori was pacing, shouting off items to make sure we packed them, and Aliza and Scoops were trying to fit all of the pillows in a large bag. Amy was holding her palm flat up to the ceiling, digging one handed in bags for a strip of cloth she could use to wrap it up. I have to admit, it was rather ridiculous. Heavy panting behind me told me that Aaron and Dylan had found the others, and had sprinted back, extremely curious as to the sudden packing craze.

"What… the _hell_… is going on?" breathed Chase heavily, putting his hands on his knees. "Aaron… told us… that you all… went crazy!" The others matched his exhaustion perfectly, panting and trying to suck in great gulps of air.

I looked at them quizzically. "How far did you guys have to run?"

"A ways… in the forest. Now tell us, please!" Paul straightened himself out as he spoke. I nodded and turned back the chaos. "Girls! Girls, please! We have to explain to the boys, or they might as well throw us in the loony bin!"

Amy paused from wrapping her cut in a piece of cut-off blanket. She smiled a little, her eyes sparkling. "Already there. Alright, I'll explain. You help, I can't with this." She brandished her hand and waved away the questions. "Okay, so we were walking back from bathing and I saw something…"

I took the now clean knife from Aaron's hand and slipped it into the bag with the others. I strode over to Aliza and Scoops and told them their efforts were futile; we were not going to take the pillows. We would have to suffer through. Scoops wiped sweat from her forehead and Aliza said, "Food and water." I nodded, and she and Scoops grabbed empty water pouches and bags and ducked out of the cabin.

Amy had finished explain and was now huddled into Chase, her bloodied hand resting lightly on his chest. I shuddered at the sight of the red bandage and turned away, into Paul's arms. I glanced cautiously around. Amy's eyes were closed; the tears she had tried to suppress were running down her cheeks. The rest of the boys were turning a blind eye, blushing a little and trying to avoid getting hit with flying baggage. I murmured thanks and turned back to face Paul, saying as leaned against him, "Paul and I are going to go check how close it is, and see if we can check where it's going. Okay?" I smiled as he pulled me out of the cabin, not waiting for an answer. I looked back over my shoulder. Amy's green eyes were piercing through the dark cabin. I smiled at her and waved. As soon as we were out of her sight and the clearing, I started laughing and we held hands as I marched him to the spot where we saw the ship.

I rested my head on his shoulder as we walked, forcing our conversation away from the new threat and what it could mean. It was mid-afternoon now, the sun straight above us and the animals out and about in full force. I swatted insects away as we half ran, half trotted to the spot. We turned the corner and skidded to a halt.

The ship was now almost directly over us, its long, menacing shadow throwing the usually welcoming jungle into a dark and fear-filled twilight. Birds had stopped singing, and the usual scurrying of animals had fallen silent, and the silence pressed on us from all sides, thick and huge. I gaped at the ship, little sounds of horror piercing the silence. I stared at the dark underbelly of the ship, watching almost in awe as a door opened up, and thousands of little purple dots started to fall gently to the ground. They seemed as light as feathers, and they hissed and sparked as the breeze carried them to the ground. I was confused; these weren't bombs, some had already landed and they weren't doing anything.

Paul tore me out of my reverie, clutching my hand and tugging. "I don't think those are-" I started to say, but was cut short.

"We need to go. NOW!"

He nearly tore my arm out of the socket as he started to run back to camp, almost running me into the ground. I ran and stood straight as we tore through the forest, letting go of our hands and then re-clutching as we ducked through branches and trees, tearing through vines and leaping over stumps. I couldn't understand why Paul was so freaked out. "What do you think those little dots are?" I shouted in his ear, and he replied as we entered the clearing, "When Link and Yoshi met up, they formed an alliance because that ship dropped those dots. They turned into the things that they had to fight through, don't you remember?"

I felt my face drain of the blood that had pounded in while we ran. "Oh, my God," I breathed, "we have to get out, don't we?"

He nodded grimly, and ran for the cabin. "Now. Right now." I followed him quickly, although I was stunned. I heard Paul shout to drop everything, and the quick but thorough explanation he gave. Scoops and Aliza were running from the storage, carrying armloads of food and water pouches. I grabbed a few and told them to drop the rest, we have to leave. They nodded, white-faced and tight lipped and released them to the ground.

Amy came running from the cabin, closely followed by Tori, Bri, and Chase. Everyone else followed them, and they gathered around Paul and me, waiting. I took a deep breath and said, "I don't think we can bring much. Just food, water, and knives, for protection. I say we follow the stream a few miles upstream and then cut across the forest, straight to the desert."

"That's where it's coming from, though! Are you crazy, Jessabell? No offense or anything."

"I don't know if that'll work…"

"The desert! How are we supposed to survive there? If we're honest, we barely survive here!"

I crossed my arms and frowned at Aaron. "Unhelpful. Extremely unhelpful, dude."

"It's not my fault. It's the truth."

I sighed and bent to retrieve a bag of berries that Scoops had dropped. "I don't think we have time to argue about it back and forth, seeing as we have five minutes at the max to get everything together and go."

He sighed as well and muttered, "Well, fine. But who the hell put you in charge?"

I smiled inwardly a little at the memory of Link telling me I had more control over the group than anyone. "Alright then. Girls will carry one food pouch and two, if there are enough, water pouches. Boys, give each of us a knife and then hide the rest. I hate to admit this, but I think you guys will have to be our.. uh…"

"Protectors?" Dylan grinned, nudging Chase in the gut. I nodded. As we stooped to gather the pouches, Paul looked over his shoulder, and I saw his face drain of all color. His eyes wide, he choked out, "Too late. Just run." Two milliseconds flicked by, and my heart started pounding as I stood, looked back from where we had just ran, and saw hundreds of figures emerging from the dark of the shadow of the ship, eyes and antennas glowing a deep, malevolent red.

Robots with extremely advanced weapons and an unlimited number of troops to back them up were our hunters. Was their goal to kill or just injure? Drive us from the clearing? Or use us as target practice? All those thoughts flicked through my mind in those two milliseconds. I turned and yelled at the frozen figures to run, at those that were my friends, and for the last week or two, my family. It felt as though we were in one of those terrible nightmares, the one where you have to run, run fast and far away, from the unspeakable terror that haunts you.

Except in this nightmare, thirteen lives where suddenly at stake.

It just took two milliseconds for us to react. As one, we exploded, two or three of us sprinting together in different directions. Amy and I tore across the clearing to the forest, ducking for cover in the huge foliage. Too late, I remembered Paul, and as I looked over my shoulder to see him going in the opposite direction from us, together with Aaron and Scoops. I gritted my teeth as a branch sprung back and whipped me in the arm, bringing my focus back to the right here and now.

We sprinted through the undergrowth, ducking around and under and over stray branches, bushes, and the rare scared-stiff animal. I lost track of where we were almost as soon as we were in the forest. The only sound was the blood pounding in my ears and the rapid breathing of Amy; also, if I listened closely, the mysterious noises the robots made as they chugged after us, with who-knew-what weapons brandished at our backs. I tried to ignore the hollow pit that had suddenly appeared in my stomach, twisting and churning as I thought of Paul.

We ran for a good five minutes, and by that time we had slowed down considerably and taken in our surroundings. We were close the cliff; we had circled nearly completely around the army and had ran to where they had appeared. Amy looked around, her eyes wide and fearful. "Where are the others?" she rasped in between gasps of air.

I merely shrugged; I couldn't speak for the bile that had started to rise. Whether it was from Paul or the running, I had no idea. We slowed to a quick walking pace as we neared the edge of the jungle, cautious and wary. Amy peered around the foliage to see if any of our pursuers had cut in front and were waiting to ambush us. She shook her head slowly when I asked, and then she turned. "Should we go out there? I say we head for the desert, down the path there."

When I could offer up no other alternative, she shrugged and said, "Alright. Quietly, now. Go." We peeked our heads out of the foliage and when we didn't see anything, we ducked out, walking quickly now, almost running, along the dusty path. After a few seconds, we relaxed our tense shoulders and breathed deeply, our eyes ever watchful and ears pricked for any sound of approaching robots. Now that we were separated from the group, this was suddenly very real and extremely dangerous. Not that it wasn't before we dispersed from the group, but, you know. Now it had just elevated to a newer, higher level.

Adrenaline was pounding through my veins, and I'm sure, Amys' as well. We were jittery and jumped at every noise, small or large. Every so often, one of us turned and watched the huge ship slowly head away over the horizon. It reminded me painfully of Paul. I knew that no savior ship would fly gracefully and powerfully over our heads, and no savior pilots would come out of the darkness to save our souls.

Amy and I couldn't speak, we were so scared. We headed along the path, edging carefully around the point where it had fallen away and Scoops had nearly fallen to her death, one hundred feet below. We had never gone this far along the path before, and so we had a strange mix of caution, fear, and curiosity, with the first two winning by a long shot. I dragged my fingers along the cliff wall, walking behind Amy. We rounded the corner…

And a laser hit a place a few centimeters in front of my fingers on the cliff wall. I yelped, yanking them back and looking at Amy, whose face had frozen in a mask of terror. I heard a metallic voice screech, "There they are! Take them! Stun them!" We ducked under the shower of lasers and turned and ran back the way we came.

Only to skid to a halt as another group of the robots came into view, running from the forest, waving guns and boomerangs above their antennas. We were trapped on all sides. My breath now coming in short gasps, I looked around. Everything slowed down, and it might've been two milliseconds as I processed our situation.

Amy's face was a white mask, and her lips were moving, silently praying and wishing. Her hands were clenched around each other, knuckles white and her cut bleeding. I looked up. A sheer rock face. Down. The same sheer one-hundred foot drop. My breath caught in my throat.

I couldn't.

_You have to,_ a voice in my head said.

I can't.

_It's the only way._

It's as good as suicide.

_But the only way. _

Not pausing to think any more, I made a split-second decision.

I grabbed Amy's hand and, my heart pounding, I leapt over the edge of the cliff, surveying the tiny details of the bottom far, far below us.


	10. Healing and the Learning of the Swords

I have vague images of Amy screaming, rocks cutting into my back and legs as I tried to slow down, and the robots screeching in fury behind us, shooting at our descending bodies. I really felt nothing; it didn't feel real as we fell. I didn't think I would act like this, acting like it was no big deal and not terrified for my life. Amy was clutching my arm until I couldn't feel it anymore, and I was trying to tell her to calm down, we would be fine. I don't know what sparked that in me.

I can't remember the fall. Or the 'moment of impact', for that matter.

I drifted in and out of consciousness when we were on the ground. Flashes of memories, blurry but still visible, reeled through my mind like a movie again and again. First, a blow to the back of my head, and then something warm trickling down the back of my neck. Second, dust flying all around me and the back of my head stinging painfully, then numbness. Third, the smells of many campfires and leather filled my nose as strong but gentle arms wrapped around me. Paul, it must've been. And last, three people standing above me, looks of shock and sheer horror on each face. I frowned at this last memory, I could not remember those faces; but I'd seen them before, I could have sworn on it. But I couldn't remember who or where. I woke for an hour, or a second, and then I succumbed to the blackness again and again, asleep but not resting, not remembering. For who knows how long I was in that state of flux, in a sort of white time. Not in the present, past, or future. Just… there.

I finally woke again for real at least a few days later. My thirst woke me up. My throat felt like sandpaper, and it was hard to swallow. As I opened my eyes, I felt something soft and cushiony underneath me, and something warm and thick over my legs, up to my chest. I frowned and sat up, more than a little freaked by now. _Where am I? Where is Amy? What happened… oh, yeah. But what the crap!?_

I was in a large canvas tent. A lantern was hanging by the closed flap, and Amy was asleep next to me, her hands, arms, and face covered in scratches. I recoiled; it was my fault she looked like that, and I probably looked the same, if not worse. I couldn't tell what time of day it was, and three other cots like Amy's and mine stood around the edges. Large swords and shields were placed by the beds, and food was in the middle. A bundle of dirty clothes was on one of the beds, waiting to be washed. I knew that they were Smashers, and I felt my stomach drop because they had wasted so much time on their quest, which I figured was the same as Link's and Flaco's. Even if they were traveling more in style than them.

I rubbed the material of the blankets between my fingers as I looked around, taking in my surroundings. It was cotton, and the reason it felt so soft was because for the past two weeks I had been sleeping on the ground. Granted, with pillows, but you know… _Ugh, I am so sore, God. I think I'll get up and-_

I started as the flap moved, a hand brushing it aside. I stared with wide eyes as a young man walked in. He looked to be about twenty or so, with a slim figure but strong arms and legs. He had hair a deep shade of blue. Bangs were brushing into his blue eyes, and a headband made out of what looked like gold with a sapphire on the top kept the rest of his shoulder-length, somewhat thin hair out of his face. He was dressed in extremely fancy clothes, also blue. An elaborate cape hung from his shoulders. It was edged in gold; it looked like there was a plate of armor of some sort underneath the thick fabric. It was, take a guess. Pink! No, just kidding. It was also blue, with a pin made out of a ruby. Whether to bring out his eyes, or his hair, I wasn't sure. His boots went up to his knees, his sleeves were rolled up to just past his elbow, and his tunic was held together by a belt.

He started also when he saw I was awake. It was a few seconds awkward pause before he said simply, "How do you feel?" His voice was somewhat high.

Now, that was a crazy question. Guilty, thirsty, hungry, sore, exhausted even though I just slept for at least a few days… the list went on and on. Finally, I just said, "Complicated."

He nodded and walked over to what was his cot, since he sat down, pulled out the sword and started sharpening it. I asked quietly, "How long has it been?"

He kept sharpening the sword, the sharp sound resonating throughout my head. Amy stirred but did not wake. "About three days."

"Thanks."

He nodded again, and looked up, his hands never stopping their work on the blade. "Are you thirsty? Or hungry?"

"Uh-"

"I can get something, if you like. What do you want?"

"Uh-"

"Let's see, we have some meat left over from a few days ago, I think it's rabbit, and then the river looks like it has plenty of fish. I have a little salted pork left, too."

"I'm just-"

"And then drinks. I'm afraid we only have water. Oh, wait, maybe there's a little wine and ale left… I would have to check."

"I can't drink-"

"Should I get something ready for your friend? Why did you jump, anyway? It was luck, pure luck that Ike and I were able to catch you before you… Anyway, how do you feel?" He looked at me expectantly. I'm pretty sure my eyes had glazed over, because in about a millisecond he was right by my bedside, his hand on my forehead to check my temperature. I shook my head quickly and he breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank goodness, I thought you had blacked out again."

I looked at him quizzically. "Do I usually?"

He shook his head. "Only once. Ike said you had woken up a few days ago, but while he was talking to you, you got that blank look on your face and passed out. He couldn't wake you up. It really scared him."

I frowned, really confused and freaked out now. "We were talking… and I passed out?"

He nodded solemnly. Then his expression softened, and he asked in a low, gentle voice, "Do you not remember? At all?" I bit my lip and felt the back of my head. My hair was a sticky mass, full of dirt and blood and what felt like a lot of padding covering a spot above my neck and next to my right ear. The soft cloth was wrapped around my neck to hold it in place; I can't believe I didn't notice it before. The boy sighed and sat down on the bed. "We did the best we could to clean it, but you might want to wash it out-"

"Good God, Marth, where are your manners? You didn't even introduce yourself!" The bundle on the bed shifted, and a person popped out from underneath it. A shaggy mass of blue hair appeared, followed by a serious face and blue eyes. He was smiling broadly, chuckling loudly at his friends' embarrassment. His voice was deep. I clapped a hand to my mouth before I could scream and wake Amy. The bundle wasn't a bundle at all; it had been a person napping. The boy named Marth jumped to his feet, blushing. The bundle-boy stood, stretching and grinning as Marth stammered, "What the… How long have you been there?"

He chuckled again. "Long enough. I was just napping when I heard you two talking, and so I just stayed and listened."

"That's eavesdropping."

"And your point…?"

"It's illegal."

"Aw, come on, Marth! You weren't talking about politics!" He squinted at me, crossing his arms. "Were you?"

I tried to keep a straight face as I answered, "Maybe. We were talking in code, couldn't you tell?"

He nodded with an equally straight face, "Ah, yes. The 'injured girl' code. Very subtle."

Marth crossed his arms, frowning. "Ha, ha. Very funny."

"Yes, yes it was."

I giggled quietly while they argued. _They act just like us, only from a different time period. That's great!_ I asked as soon as there was a pause in the conversation, "So, who are you guys again?"

Bundle-boy raised his hand in a wave, and said, "I'm Ike, from Crimea."

The other boy rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "I am Marth of Altea." Turning to Ike, he asked, "Where's Meta Knight?" Ike shrugged and Marth sighed. "Fine, I'll go find him. Don't help or anything, because that would be too much of a _hassle_…" He continued to mutter under his breath as he lifted the flap and walked out. Ike rolled his eyes at his friends' retreating back, and I could almost see Aaron arguing with Dylan. Ike turned back to me, and before he could say anything, Amy sat up, yawning and stretching. She smiled blearily at me, and I waved to her. Ike looked at her, then at me, and then pointed to the outside. I nodded and he quietly walked out.

I climbed out of the cot and walked stiffly over to her cot. She blinked and said, "Where are we again...?" I shrugged and said, "In our rescuers' tent. They bandaged us up pretty well. How do you feel?"

She titled her head to one side, thinking. Finally she answered, "Very, very, very sore."

"Me too, girl. Me too." I held out my hand to help her out of bed. I could hear voices outside as Marth and the other person approached. Ike started telling them off and Marth and Ike started arguing again. I grinned as Amy clambered out of her cot. "What? What are you smiling at?"

In answer, I cocked my head to the tent flap, where the raised voices were coming from, and Amy listened for a while before grinning. "They sound exactly like-"

"Like us, I know. It's crazy."

We linked arms as we went out, straight into the argument. Ike and Marth were standing on either side of us, shouting at each other. Amy and I looked at each other. A small, round warrior was standing off to the side, short arms crossed and an extremely bored expression on his face. He noticed us first, while Marth and Ike still argued about who knows what. We walked over to the small, round person and I said, "Are you 'Meta Knight'?" He was short, with a mask exposing only his yellow eyes. He also wore a cape, and his sword was gold, with six separate blades sticking out like barbs. In short, don't get on this dude's bad side.

He nodded and said in an extremely deep voice, deeper than Ike's, "Yes, I am. And you are the girl who threw herself and her friend off a cliff?"

After a second I realized he was joking. I grinned and replied sweetly, "Yes, that would be me."

He nodded grimly and said, as if he read my mind, "They won't stop for a while." He sighed and walked into the tent, calling over his shoulder, "The river is clean upstream, if you want to… yeah." He disappeared into the tent. I looked at Amy and giggled. She rolled her eyes as the fighting boys suddenly stopped, and noticed that we were outside, and walking, and watching them with amusement.

Amy spoke first. "You guys fight like an old couple."

Marth looked taken aback, and Ike frowned. He asked, "What does that mean?"

As soon as Amy opened her mouth to reply, I quickly cut her off. "We are going to wash off a bit. So don't freak out."

And Amy, ever wanting to make an impression, "And don't kill each other, either."

We left them both looking stunned, and as we walked to find a place with some privacy, I took in the surroundings. It was an extremely hot and humid day, with insects buzzing in the distance and a bright blue sky, no clouds, overhead. The sun was in the center of the sky, and the various clumps of twisted and gnarled trees offered little shade. The ground and walls of the canyon were a deep red, and the dust seemed to coat everything, including the air. The river next to us steadily grew louder and larger, and clearer and clearer until the rocks beneath the surface were clearly visible.

(I'm sure you don't want details of our cleaning and healing of wounds [wow, that was poetic], so I'll just skip it.)

--Later that afternoon…--

Amy and I watched, arms crossed, as Ike, Marth, and Meta Knight brought out dull swords and practiced against each other, perfecting moves and combos. Amy was supposed to be helping me set up their dinner. We were practically at their throats when they refused to let us do anything to help, and eventually, after we threatened to jump in the river and swim away, they agreed reluctantly. For some reason, that really freaked them out.

Amy sighed as Marth switched Ike across his back. Ike retaliated with a quick uppercut, knocking Marth backward. She shook her head, and said, "I swear, every single person, or animal, in this world, is _absolutely _friggin' insane." She stooped, checking the water's boiling status.

"I know, right? I think that would be a useful skill to have, though."

"What? Fighting with metal sticks?"

"Also known as a sword?"

"Whatever. Yeah, I actually agree, too. It would come in handy, especially if we get attacked again."

I looked up from cutting meat. "Why don't we learn?"

"How?" She stretched backwards, and replaced some wood underneath a blazing fire.

"Think, Amy."

She paused for a second or two, and then slapped by her head, cursing herself under her breath. "No duh. 'Course! That's a great idea. I saw we ask them _after _they put down the swords, so they don't cut off our heads. Because you know they would."

I giggled in response. After about an hour, the sounds and smells our signature stew made the swordsmen stop their practice. After they finished and were in a relatively good mood, leaning back on the stones used for benches, I looked at Amy. She nodded and took a deep breath, and said, standing up, "We want to learn how to fight. With swords."

The expression on Ike's face was priceless. The fire throwing his features, as well as the others', into a half-and-half picture of light and shadows. He asked simply, "Why?"

I said from my place next to Amy, looking straight at him, "We need to learn how to protect ourselves."

"You have us to protect you. If anything happens, we'll be there."

Amy shook her head, and asked, "Well, okay then. But what happens when you _aren't _there, or anyone else? They don't really teach you sword fighting in high school, you know."

I jumped in to back her up, "Like on the cliff." I saw them all stiffen involuntarily, and began to think I may have underestimated how much they wanted to protect us. "We probably could have held them off, because they honestly didn't look that smart."

Marth looked torn. He sighed, putting his hand on the back of his head. "I don't know. It just doesn't… I don't think you…"

I looked at Amy. Her eyes had narrowed dangerously. "What do you mean?"

"Uh, well, girls are weaker naturally…"

Amy raised her eyebrows indignantly, crossing her arms. "Well, Jessa and I come from a country where women are generals in the military, in positions of power in government and businesses, and who make names and millions for themselves by proving others wrong. So don't tell us we can't learn. We'll learn."

I stared at her, and said quietly, "Wow, Amy, that was deep. Nice job, girl." She was still looking at Marth and Ike, daring them to say anything else. I looked at Meta Knight. He was the only one who had not said anything, and he noticed my stare, and I think the reason behind it. He sighed, and immediately, the main arguers turned to him, waiting. When he spoke, it wasn't loud, but in the tone of complete finality, "I think they can learn. We can start tomorrow." Amy and I stared at him, and then identical grins burst on our faces. I laughed with relief and Amy saluted him. Ike frowned at the ground, and Marth sighed again. It would be fine with them as our teachers, for sure. As we left them outside to go to sleep, because we were completely worn out, we heard them start to argue about trying to teach a couple of girls to fight.

* * *

**MINDSPRING- I have to be honest with you- I could not figure out how to continue the cliffhanger from the last chapter. I spent many a sleepless nights wondering on how to do it. Hope you enjoy it!**

**Hey, don't forget.... why am I telling you this? You know the drill. (especially King Sparky and PeridotSwan- you guys are completely and totally awesome!) If you don't, oh dear. Please leave your thoughts, comments, and whatever else you want... I think I need to new ways to ask for reviews... I'll think of some! I swear to God!**


	11. No Room for Mercy in Battle

"Once more."

"Aww, come on. Have some mercy!"

"In battle there is no room for mercy. Once more."

I sighed and lifted the wooden sword again, steadying it as I lined up the point with Ike's face. He was also holding a wooden sword, although he was considerably less sweaty than me and more relaxed than I was. Even so, he had a proud glint in his eyes, which I suspected was showing a lot of emotion for him.

It was about midday, and the sun was hiding behind huge, swollen clouds, probably full of rain and heading for the jungle. I could hear Marth and Amy working on parries a few yards away, and Meta Knight was wandering between us, giving a few tips here and there.

We had been working for about three hours now, but I was enjoying it a lot. I had taken fencing a few years back and liked it a lot. Ike and Marth switched partners every thirty minutes or so, and pretty soon Amy and I were getting pretty good at this, if I do say so myself. This was the last day we were going to stay in this spot, and then we were going to move farther away from the jungle, closer to the mountain that was just barely peeking above the canyon lip. I knew if it looked that big from way out here, it was an absolute monster.

As Ike and I began to circle each other, like in a strange dance, I relaxed and focused on his movements, his eyes, and his feet, all signs, Marth told us, on where your opponent was going to strike first. And then he mentioned skilled swordsmen can fool you with all three. It was very encouraging. In short, keep your mind and sword focused.

Ike stepped forward as if to attack my left arm, and I stepped to the side to dodge it. He apparently thought that he could corner me and quickly strike me when I was still moving, but I was prepared for that and blocked his cut to my side. He lost his balance because of the force of the blow and that was when I tried to tag him. He dodged it easily, and regained his balance almost at once. I frowned and blew a strand of hair that had come loose. Ike smiled a little and dove forward, doing a fancy uppercut move that nearly hit me three times. I narrowly avoided each one, and just as the third was coming up past my head, I stepped forward and lightly tapped him on his weird breastplate thingy.

He grinned as he came back down. "That was great! I think you are getting the hang of this now!"

I returned his smile, and turned to watch Amy perfect a difficult-looking, but actually really easy block that defended the vulnerable head and neck area. Ike and I started clapping, me with just a teeny bit of teasing in it. Luckily she was too preoccupied with squealing in delight at herself to notice.

Amy grinned at Marth and we started to walk back to the tent to put away the practice swords, Meta Knight floating next to Ike on his eerie looking bat wings. Amy had found out about them first, and it had really scared her. It was pretty hilarious. So now I think he glided just to annoy her, because we were only a few yards from camp. Even though he would not admit it. I smiled; it was almost like being back at home. Except at home, we didn't learn how to chop each other's head and limbs off. Which, come to think of it, was probably a really smart idea.

I held out my arms, and Ike and Marth deposited their practice swords in my little 'basket'. I turned to dump them into the sack, and noticed, for the first time, two things. One, my head wound needed new bandages, and two, I didn't know where my glasses were. It wouldn't be the first time I had misplaced them, either. More than once, I had to run back into the locker rooms, blushing, because I had left them sitting there, waiting to be sat on.

I motioned Amy over and had her help unwrap my head. I seriously felt like a mummy, and it didn't help when Amy mentioned that fact. I also her curse a little at the sight of it, so I'm guessing it was pretty bad. It was slow going, because Amy's hand was also bandaged from when Aaron accidentally cut it with the hunting knife. But eventually, we got it done, and that was when I asked to her to help me look for my glasses, which were no doubt smashed to pieces, in all probability. She agreed, and so we walked back out, told the boys we were going to look for them, and walked out of sight of the camp.

As soon as we were out of hearing range as well, Amy's well-composed mask of happiness and self-pride crumpled, leaving only a sad and scared person behind. She sighed, running her hand along the rock wall, "I'm depressed."

I nodded, feeling the scratchy cloth on the sensitive skin on my neck and for the first time in a few days, thought about the others. "I know, me too. I'm worried sick, absolutely sick." My stomach seemed to drop into the ground as I thought about Tori, and Psyche, and Paul, and Scoops, and Aaron, and Paul, and Paul, and…

"What do you think happened? I mean, how did they know where we were and why did they care?"

A faint memory skimmed my mind, but was gone almost as soon as it had come. "I don't know. But for some reason, I have the oddest feeling Jackie had something to do with it…"

She looked up sharply. "You had the dreams, too?"

I gazed at her, more than a little confused. She sighed and took my look as a question and quickly explained. "For the first few nights, I had these crazy dreams about a man who needed our help in rounding up lawbreakers and outlaws. It always seemed he was talking to me, but he wasn't, if that makes any sense. Only when Link and Mario and all them came did I realize that's who he meant by outlaws. I seriously contemplated doing it, although how I could have, I don't know. The man in my dreams always said he would offer help when I agreed, and I would be happier if I did help him. But then, he also said he could destroy us if I refused. It scared the shit out of me. So I just ignored it, but then it kept coming back. After Jackie left, though, they stopped. I… I think that's why she left. To betray us." She caught sight of my face and added hastily, "I don't know for sure, though."

"Why not? It's almost as good as proof! She really did leave us to die, and it was only by luck that we were saved two times!" I realized that my voice was steadily getting louder, and added quietly, "Besides, she always did hate us."

Amy sucked on her lip, thinking. We were still walking along the path, and the sun was just beginning to set. I searched the rocks for a glint of glass, and was startled out of the silence by Amy saying, "Maybe she was just jealous."

"Jealous? Of what?" I nearly burst out laughing, until I realized she wasn't joking. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, we were always surrounded by good friends, and were always laughing a lot and being crazy, and always going on crazy outings together… I lost my point." When she frowned, annoyed at herself, I laughed quietly and said, "Jackie being jealous?"

"Oh. Right. Well, yeah, that's about it."

I frowned, not really wanting to see things like that but having to anyway, "Okay, I'll give you that. But why didn't you tell anyone? I'm sorry if that's being intrusive or whatever, but please tell me."

She sighed, closing her eyes, "I thought I was going crazy, and the fact that Jackie was also having those dreams really scared me into thinking that, too. So you didn't have the dreams?"

I shook my head, but decided to tell her about my version of the dreams. "I have sorta the same dreams, but mine always revolve around me being there with that man when he's in a battle meeting or something. I just hear what he's planning and that's about it."

"Weird."

I laughed loudly at that, "Not like anything else is here."

"Of course not." She choked a little, and said, "Do you think they're all okay?"

"Even Aaron?"

She smiled grimly through her tears, "Yes. Even Aaron."

I hugged her as we walked, saying, "Yes, I honestly, truly think they are all alright."

"Good, but I need to see it to-" She froze, perking up instantly. "What the hell was that?" Her voice was soft, stiff, and hoarse.

"What was what?" I was immediately hushed by her waving her hands, and she concentrated on trying to hear something that was probably in her mind. I stopped, my mind going from looking from my glasses to waiting out Amy's spat of randomness. It was nearly sunset now, and the sky was dark with clouds. The shadows thrown by the setting sun made the canyon seem intimidating, threatening. The river gleamed gold in the light, and it looked cool and clear.

I froze. A little hiss was all it was, but it was enough for Amy and me to understand. Without moving, without breathing because the shock was riding through our veins, we watched as two robots flanking a tall figure in dark armor emerged from the rocky outcropping in front of us. The robots' eyes' were a dark red, like blood, and they were both carrying menacing looking guns.

My heart stopped, then dropped into my stomach as, in slow-mo, the man smiled, raised his hand, and the robots took aim. I couldn't breathe; my chest seemed to have a tremendous pressure on it, and Amy made no move or motion next to me. We needed to escape, somehow, but there was nowhere to run. The river was too shallow to provide protection and transportation, and it was too late. The man smiled, as if he could read my thoughts, and in a low and gravelly voice, full of evil, said softly, "No cliff to jump off this time, Jessabell."

Stunned, I opened my mouth and screamed. It was cut off by a shower of light right next to Amy's feet. She jumped and screamed, and with a burst of strength she pulled me by my arm into a small cave that was peering out in the wall of the red rock. She was crying now, and she was squeezing her hand together so tightly that when she opened it, blood lined the white bandage she wore on her hand. I slapped her on the arm gently to stop her before it could get worse. We crouched there, breathing deeply, praying.

Huge hands reached into the opening and grabbed us by the hair. Tears sprang into my eyes, and I whimpered softly and tried to scratch the hands off, but bad luck. They were wearing armor. Amy screamed loudly, more so than before, and she started to kick. Tears were flowing freely down her face, staining her shirt.

We were dragged out in the dust and gravel. As soon as we were out, I could see, over a broad pair of shoulders and a grinning face, half in shadows, Ike, Marth and Meta Knight running as fast as they could, eyes narrowed, swords raised. They met the robots in a clangor of screeching metal and sparks. The man released us, and as soon as our feet were on the ground, he grabbed us more firmly by the throats and turned us around to face the swordsmen. I struggled, gasping, crying now, and begging him to stop. But there was no mercy in his eyes, and as the breath slowed in my chest and black swam in front of me, he released us and we fell onto the ground. Amy didn't move; she was barely breathing and I tried to help her, to revive her, but the man grabbed my hair again and yanked me up so I was kneeling. Amy stirred, and just as quickly she, too, was kneeling in the same position.

As the battle raged in front of us, the man knelt in between Amy and I and hissed quietly, "If you do not want to see their blood soaking the ground, Smashers, I would stop." They slowed, eyes fixed on ours. A sharp, cold metal pressed into my back, and I closed my eyes and hung my head, not willing to meet their eyes.

The clamor of battle was replaced by tense, anxious silence. I didn't dare breathe, and Amy whimpered softly next to me.

The man spoke first. "Put down your swords, men. We don't want a fight. We just need their help." His tone was mocking, trying to achieve diplomacy and failing. It just made him seem more harsh, and more deadly.

It was Marth who spoke. "No, Ganondorf. We fight for our friends, and we can take all these robots you can throw at us."

He chuckled softly. "You don't want them hurt, do you?" A timid step. His voice turned harsh, "Then do not take another step, peasant. Their lives hang in the balance." My heart was pounding, and my head was throbbing. I couldn't see, I couldn't breathe, and I was scared for my life, and as a trickle of blood flowed down my back, I realized that I could very possibly never see the sun rise again.

A hiss and clatter of wheels on rocks announced another robot, larger and more dangerous by the sound of the noise it was making. I heard someone curse, and I knew, with a sinking heart, Ganondorf had led them into a trap. He would get us and them in one go. Twp birds with one stone. I shuddered as clanging and grunts of effort rebounded across the canyon walls. My knees were starting to lose feeling, and I wobbled. His grip on my hair tightened.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the back of my head exploded in pain, and as I cried out, Amy did the same and we both fell, blackness swarming and we collapsed, unconscious.

* * *

**MINDSPRING-** **Wow, that came out fast. I actually had this chapter planned, I just had to get from jumping off the cliff to the lessons. I tried to make this an intense scene, but I don't think it worked... :S Anyhoo, why did Amy and Jackie and no one else have the dreams? (as far as we know....) Why do they need the girls? All this and more answered in th next chapter! Merci for reading!**


	12. Ignorance and Innocence

Someone was shaking me. I tried swatting them away, but that only made them stop for about a second. And then it started again, this time with my name and a few choice swear words alternating. I groaned, and rubbed my eyes, yawning. I heard Amy's exasperated voice say, "Oh, my God. Finally!"

The light seeping in under my closed eyes seemed like it was moving, pulsing like a heartbeat. It changed colors, too, from pink to blue to purple and back to pink. There was a sound like a draft blowing through a huge hall, echoing off unseen walls and ceilings. I frowned. I had absolutely no starting idea to where we were, but I knew it was just Amy and I; I could remember back to… _that._

I sat up, stretched, and nearly smacked Amy in the face. While I apologized blearily, I forced my tired eyes open, and I felt my jaw drop. _Oh, my God. Oh… my… God… _We weren't in a room or building, but we weren't outside either.

The horizon, sky, and ground were all pulsing that strange colored light. The background of everything was either black or a dark purple. Every few seconds, a bright comet, or something like it, would zoom by, disappearing as quickly as it had come. Amy's anxious face, tanned and in shadows, was next to mine, her green eyes reflecting the odd light. I broke the silence. "Where are we?"

She shrugged, indifferent, and leaned back so she was completely flat out. "No idea. I just woke up here, with you next to me. Oh, God, that sounded naughty." I rolled my eyes at her. "Really, Amy? Is now really the time?"

She closed her eyes and smiled, putting her hands behind her head. "Isn't this the creepiest place, like, _ever?"_ I nodded and said, "Are we in a room, or outside? 'Cause this is really freaking me out right now."

Amy sat up and said, "Well, then, welcome to my world! I have no idea. I wanted to walk, see how far this went on, but I was too scared. To get lost in a place like this…" She shuddered involuntarily, hugging herself. She looked exhausted and yet bored at the same time, as if wanting to do something that involved taking control of herself and her situation. I wondered if, like me, she was tired of being pawns in this game.

Her shirt was dirty, as were her jeans and her shoes were looking as if they were near the end of their lives. Her hair was tangled, and she was extremely tan, more so than she had been ever before in her life. I must look the same, or close, or worse. Great.

I stood, massaging the sudden cramp in my calf and squinted into the distance. There was not much to see, considering a) I was almost blind without my glasses, and b) it was completely, and totally, pitch-dark. I couldn't tell if it was morning, noon, or night, but I figured it didn't really matter; I didn't have a whole lot of appointments this week.

Amy stood next to me, and crossed her arms. She said quietly, "I am really sick of all this. I'm honestly wishing for school right now."

Instead of gaping at her, I nodded in agreement, silent and exhausted.

It was eerily silent in this place, and every time that light shot across the sky, a slight whooshing sound followed. Every move Amy or I made echoed quietly, adding to the haunted feeling that was growing in my stomach.

For the next few hours, as we stared into the empty spaces surrounding us, I thought. About Paul, about Scoops, about Tori. About everyone. I thought about Link, Pit, Mario- every Smasher we met in the last few weeks, or however long we've been in this world. And I thought about their mission, and the pieces of information we've managed to gather.

At a tournament of some sort, after Mario and Yoshi fought, Mario's girlfriend was kidnapped by Mario's stepbrother, who froze her into some sort of statue. He knocked Mario into the clouds, also as a statue, which is where Pit found him. Meanwhile, Kirby and another princess, Zedla or something, barely got out of the stadium before it exploded. Zedla was left behind when Kirby went off to try to save Mario's girlfriend and brother from a giant penguin. Link and Yoshi met up when the same ship that had appeared in the clearing with all the robots. Then a dark version of Mario's girlfriend tried to statue-ate Mario and Kirby, so Link and Yoshi stopped her, Mario and Kirby saw them and attacked them. (The story is muddled on who won the following fight, by the way.) When they told us that part, we all looked at Aaron; it was the exact same thing he would have done. Fight, then talk. Anyway, they formed an alliance and that was when we met them.

I rubbed my head, sighing. That was only half the story. Fox, Falco, and Diddy had their own part. I looked over at Amy; she was using my jacket as a pillow and sleeping, however restlessly. I sighed again and begin to finger-comb my hair.

Fox was in the plane Paul and I saw attacking the larger bat ship. He was evidently hit, went down near a pond, saved Diddy from a giant lake monster, and went to save Diddy's friend Donkey Kong (who was not a donkey, by the way; just a large gorilla). However, when they were walking, they got ambushed by a giant turtle and Diddy was cloned into a giant Diddy. Before Fox could been turned into a statue as well, Falco jumped out of his plane and destroyed the gun. Fox returned Diddy to normal, they all fought off the giant Diddy, and that was the night when we met them.

I jumped, and Amy sat up suddenly beside me, her eyes wide. Another loud bang echoed in the distance, and then out of nowhere, a small, fat, man was standing over us, his large pink nose glistening with sweat. I recoiled and made a face. Amy coughed to cover a small laugh.

He was extremely short; if I stood up, I would have towered over him. He had a huge mouth, and blue shadows around his eyes. He had a very twisty black mustache, large black eyebrows, a yellow cap with goggles, yellow fingerless gloves, and a torn jeans jacket. He wore a blue shirt, purple pants, and blue shoes. His fat stomach was barely contained by the shirt, and his pants were held up by a red belt.

In short, one word._ Eww._

I recognized him instantly as the man in some of my dreams, and he seemed to be our jailer, judging from the unhappy look on his face. Hiding my face under my hair, I stole a look at Amy, and struggled to keep a straight face.

"You two, follow me. Now. And don't even get any ideas of trying to run. I don't follow the rule of not hitting girls." He turned and started to walk away.

I gaped after him, and Amy whispered, "Holy shit." He turned around, his face contorting. "_Now_, idiots!"

Amy flipped the birdy as soon as his back was turned. I rolled my eyes and stood, waiting for her. Eventually, we walked over to where he was waiting in front of a solid wall that wasn't there before. He pressed his hands onto it, leaving a nasty grease mark on it. I wrinkled my nose.

The door, it apparently was, slid silently open and we walked into a spaceship. Not even kidding; sleek silver walls, floors, and ceiling. Round windows lined the hallway, letting in the weird light from where we just were. I looked behind me; the door was closed now, but a one-way window allowed me to see in to our 'prison cell'.

We walked behind the fat man for about five minutes, twisting and turning at seemingly random times in another random door. We started talking to each other with our hands. Amy's mom had taken sign language classes a few years ago, and taught Amy and her little brother everything she had learned. In turn, Amy taught me sign language because I had argued it would and could come in handy sooner or later.

I should go into fortune telling.

_I want to slap him._

_Me too, he's a jerk._

_More than that, he's an ass._

_Amy, do you realize how much taller we all are than him? That's so crazy._

_I know! I feel so tall._

_For the first time ever._

_Hey!_

_Hehe, it's true._

It was a slow conversation, because I was still learning. When we got to our destination, the fat man stood aside and waved us into a dark chamber, made of the same stuff as the cell. A giant orb hung in the middle of the room, and across it flashed scenes of the Smashers, the ones we had met, and ones we hadn't. Creepy.

A silhouette of a man stood in front of the orb, watching them. I frowned and signaled to Amy that he was the one who kidnapped us. She hissed lowly and subconsciously leaned away, but the fat man pushed us both forward. The door slid shut, and we were alone with our captor.

He turned and smiled when he heard the door. "Ladies. Welcome. I trust you are well?"

I froze; he was really creeping me out. Amy answered tentatively, "Where are we?"

He put his hands behind his back, and said, still smiling that arrogant smile, "That is one thing I am afraid I cannot answer you."

"Then who are you?" I asked, just as quietly as Amy.

"Also something I am not permitted to say. But," he raised one hand, and started to walk over to where we were huddled against the wall, "if you tell me a few things, I might tell you all you need to know."

Amy and I looked at each other. She said, sucking on her lip, "What?"

"How many Smashers know you?"

I looked at him; my eyes squinted in confusion, "Why the crap do you need to know that?"

He sighed, his smile disappearing. He looked more real than the fake smiley guy that met us. "They are all traitors to the great cause."

"What great cause?"

"Stop asking questions, little girl. Things that are far beyond your immediate knowledge and concern."

I folded my arms, "If you keep insulting us, you won't get very far." Beside me, Amy nodded and grinned.

He frowned at me, and hissed softly, "I suggest you do as I say, Jessabell and Amy. You are both in my control now, and if you continue to annoy me, I could destroy you easily."

I sucked in a breath. He wasn't joking, and I looked to Amy, heart pounding. She made a slight movement with her hands, and after a few repeats, I got what she was saying. Uh, signing.

_Ignorance and innocence. Ignorance and innocence._

I exhaled, pretending to comply. I knew almost at once that this was a dangerous game, and if he found out, he would hurt us. I nodded and said, "Um, how many… I would say at least five."

He smiled and said, "How many, exactly?"

While Amy figured out how to answer, I watched the orb behind him. A turtle-man was jumping into a destroyed building, and stealing some statues that the KO'ed penguin on the ground had put there. The turtle grabbed a statue with a dress on, and I knew at once that she was Mario's girlfriend. As soon as he had her, he ran and coming in not five seconds later was Mario, Link, Pit, Yoshi, and Kirby. I bit my lip; they were so close. If they had not stopped to help us…

Another image flashed across the orb, and it showed Falco dropping Diddy out of his plane onto a shipping board. A large monkey statue was chained to the surface, and when Diddy revived him, I saw a large 'D' on his red tie. So that must be Donkey Kong. Falco flew away, not before giving Diddy a thumbs up. Diddy and his friend started to fight off some robots, and an extremely buff man and a small person in a spacesuit showed up to help them. I smiled inwardly; it wasn't a very fair fight.

The image faded, and for a few milliseconds, another orb was in the middle of the first one. This one, I somehow knew, was actually in the orb, like the first one was some sort of protection. The second, smaller one was multi-colored, not like the opaque one it was inside of. It bounced around on the sides of the larger orb, and the colors pulsed randomly. A strange sign was on it, sort of like a tipped-to-the-side cross. Small beams of yellow light shot around it. Then the images played again, and the strange ball disappeared from view.

I broke out of the trance when the doors slid open and the small fat man pushed us into our cell. I shook myself, and wondered how long I had been 'unaware'. How embarrassing.

Amy touched my shoulder, and whispered, "What? What happened?"

I waited until the doors slid shut, then told her what I had seen. She didn't know what to make of it, either, and we discussed it for hours, until the fat man came in again, told us to 'shut the hell up or I swear to God I was run you over with my motorcycle.'

Amy and I agreed he was a very likeable person. With that, smiling, we laid down on our jackets and/ or arms, and slept fitfully.


	13. Just SING

"_We have to get them out of here. They are too close now, too close for my comfort."_

"_Yes sir. We shall relocate the girls to somewhere more suitable. Where, might I ask?"_

_The scene had not changed at all. I was still standing in my shadowy corner, and the hand was still bound in golden chains by the blue man, and our jailers stood side-by-side, arms crossed and eyes looking up to the giant hand. The atmosphere was tense, and I knew that something important was happening at once._

_The same orb that hung in the interrogation room was now in the background, behind our jailers. This time, it showed Meta Knight and a few others fighting their way to control the bat ship, which had a mask just like Meta Knight's. Duh. Fox and Falco were also there, and then the scene changed._

_Link and Mario were chasing after the big turtle, who held a statue of a gorgeous lady in his hands. He used it as a shield, and when Mario tried to attack him he had to miss. Cheater._

_The scenes flickered for only a few seconds, and then that smaller orb appeared, gently bouncing off the walls of the bigger one. _

_I shook my head, and tried to pay attention to the others in the room. I saw Jackie appear at the edges of the room, standing next to our fat jailer, away from the tall dark one. They all had the same look of almost-joy, evil happiness, at something that would go well for them and no one else. _

_I stared at that orb. Something about it told me that whatever should happen, the Smashers would need that. I snapped back to attention when the tall jailer said, "And the Smash Ball. Where should that go?"_

_The hand waved it off indifferently, saying, "Move it in with the humans, they could not use it."_

_With that, they all bowed, and my dream was over._

When Amy slowly shifted in her sleep, I woke, rubbing my eyes and yawning. Blearily, I pulled my knees to my chest and put my head between my knees, sighing. This was the third dream I've had since Amy and I arrived here. It was amazingly helpful, to know what _they_ were planning to do. And I was getting closer to actually knowing what that smaller orb was for. I was sure, by the way the men spoke of it with reverence, that it was something extremely important and extremely powerful. In all of my dreams, Jackie was there, but not inputting anything. I frowned, and clenched my fist, watching the knuckles turn white and the veins pop. Her betrayal, not just to us, but to all of the Smashers, meant she really wanted to hurt us, and with her allies, there was no telling what she could and would do.

I lay back down and stared at the ceiling, or whatever it was, glowing with all those weird flashes and pulses of light. I had no idea how long we had been here. An hour? A day? A week? Who knows. Eventually, we will get out of here, with help for some outside force or by ourselves. I smiled, remembering Amy's little lecture to the swordsmen on women in this day in age. She was right; we could go anything if we set our mind to it.

To alleviate our boredom, Amy and I had both started to sing for hours at a time. At first, we relearned songs back from home, but that supply ran low, so after that we made up our own tunes. I started to hum, then quietly whisper our own song.

Wait a minute... Idea… Light bulb…

Sing…

S.I.N.G.

_S_olar plexus, _I_nstep, _N_ose, _G_roin.

I grinned, and after a moment, burst out laughing. No way in the heavens above could _that_ work. Our fat jailer would be onto us for sure! I tried to quiet myself as I saw the faint outline of said jailer on the opposite wall. I put my hand over my mouth and closed my eyes. I was scared I was going insane, from how hysterically I was laughing. Eventually, I stopped, and looked at the sleeping figure of Amy next to me.

She had changed, and I'm sure I had too. Her skin was now pale, since she had not seen the sun in so long. Her face was gaunt, filled with shadows, and bones protruded under her skin. Her eyelids were purple from stress and lack of good sleep. She was now using her arm as a pillow, and she was frowning slightly.

I stood, stretched, and started to try to do cartwheels until she woke. She finally did just when I had done my first one ever, and she sat up, her hair a mess, her eyes still half-closed and her expression worried and curious. She raised her eyebrows.

I smiled and plopped down next to her. "Good morning, sunshine! Don't we look _fabulous_ today?" Amy made a slight movement with her hands that I think was her flipping the birdy, but I'm not sure. "Wha- wha- wha- what?" She said, yawning hugely.

I leaned forward and whispered confidentially, "I had a dream."

At once, she was full-on awake. "About what? Did you see anyone?"

As soon as she had finished telling her, she began to shriek. "Are you kidding me? How will we get out of this? Come_ on_! This is so freakin unfair, _God_ I just wanna scream!" I clamped my hand over her mouth and hissed, "You're doing a fine job now! Quiet!"

She rolled her eyes, and nodded. I let go, and then grinned a little, "I had another idea, though. Have you ever watched Ms Congeniality?"

She nodded, her eyes worried. "Why?" She asked slowly.

I grinned a little more. "S.I.N.G."

"_What?_"

I rolled my eyes and explained. Her eyes shone with a fire of hope and determination that had not been there before. I knew that look; it meant she was going to do it, no matter how stupid. I shook my head furiously. "No, Amy, no. It was just something funny!"

"It could work, though! Think about it, he tries to take us away, we're facing the opposite wall, we S.I.N.G!"

"But it _couldn't_ work, that's my point! He would be onto us for sure! We're supposed to be docile and obedient!"

"Says who, Jessa?"

"Says the dude who could run us over with a motorcycle, and I'm sorry, that argument is a _little_ better than the one you're coming up with now, Amy!"

She folded her arms and huffed at me. "He's not very smart. And, besides, they need us."

"How do you know?"

She rolled her eyes and stood, pacing, "Because they told us the first time the interrogated us, girl! Listen! We're the only way they have of capturing more than one Smasher at a time! Us! Bait!"

"No way. I don't remember that at all!"

"Oh, my God! Jessabell, we gotta do it! It's the on-" Her voice was rising, louder and louder by the minute. A clang echoed off the walls, scaring both of us. She continued after a pause, her voice shaking, "it's the only way we'll ever get out of this alive."

"What?"

"Oh, don't be naive. You think that once they have what they want, they'll let us live? Another two mouths to feed, two more people to cart around? No, they won't, they'll kill us and we gotta get out of here before the Smashers come."

I let that sink in. Now that I thought about it, it did seem more likely. I shivered, and Amy slid down next to me, continuing, "I say we gotta do it. I didn't want to jump off the cliff, and I'm sure you didn't either, but we did and we're alive."

I opened my mouth to reply, but before I even got out the first word, she cut me off. "I know it was lucky that Ike, Marth and Meta Knight were there. They were in the right place at the right time. If it hadn't been for them, we would have been splatters on the ground. So we owe them a debt; they saved our lives, now we save theirs. And the only way to do that, is to take care of this shit ourselves and get out of here so we can warn them all."

I stared at her. "Oh, my God Amy. You should be a politician."

She grinned and asked, her eyes shining, "So you're in? You'll help?"

I sighed and put my head in between my knees. She, of course, took that as a yes and threw her arms around me, starting to squeal. I shushed her quietly. "Ok, now we gotta practice."

I grinned. _This should be fun_, I thought, as we both stood and Amy turned away. "Alright, so we gotta get him to attack us from behind. And don't actually do this, save the real thing for him." She nodded, and I walked forward, wincing slightly as she went through the movements. "My turn."

We went through that at least twenty times each, and so we were both equally ready. We had improved it slightly, because the man was so short, and since he would be the only one, the other person who he did not go after would grab his keys and card that allowed us into any room. I wasn't sure whether this would knock him out or not. I grinned at Amy, and slapped my stomach. "It feels just like before a swim meet, and you're swimming the first event!"

She grinned and nodded back, and replied, "Oh, I got them butterflies too." We were both nervous, that was easy to see, and excited by this. He wouldn't expect it if we turned the game on him, and so would give us more time to find the card. I smiled grimly as the door started to slide open, and looked at Amy. She nodded, her face white, and we both turned to face the other way.

We could hear his steps as he entered the echoing chamber, but still we didn't turn. As the doors slid shut with an audible click, I glanced at my hands and tightened them. "Alright, bitches, we are moving today, and I don't expect any difficulties, hear that?"

When we didn't respond, he huffed and started walking over to us, "Deaf and dumb today? Well, come on, idiots."

I started moving, to get the adrenaline that was speeding through me already even more excited. And when I felt his meaty, greasy hands grab me, I swung into an action with such speed and agility that it surprised me.

_Solar Plexus!_ I thought, ramming my foot hard into it.

_Instep!_ I smashed it down, and felt his hot breath on the back of my neck.

_Nose!_ With my elbow, I swung back and heard his grunt of surprise. I grimanced at the last one, before-

_Groin!_ My other elbow swung down with the momentum and got him right in the… _Sensitive _area.

I wheeled around to see him fall to the ground, whimpering, holding his… _sensitive _area. I looked for Amy; she was already at the door, waiting for me. I took a great leap and jumped over him, and hit the ground running. She worked the card's magic, the door slipped open, and we belted outside of it.

"Wait, Amy!" I had stopped at the door, and saw a problem. He was just starting to get back up, and he was furious. He spun on his weird little elf shoes and when he saw me, I swear to God I saw murder in his eyes. "Amy! Give me the card!" She tossed it through the air, and I caught it. He was getting closer, closer… Sweating, I slid it through the device and only breathed when I heard him slam into the door that had suddenly closed. I turned to face her, "How do we lock it?"

She shrugged, grabbed my hand, and we ran. She had fear in her face, as I did, and we were panting, our hands clammy and adrenaline pumping through our veins.

As our footsteps echoed in the cold, empty metal of the halls, we stopped. I put my hands on my knees and breathed in deeply, trying to calm my racing heart. Amy stood, and after a pause, exploded in laughter. "That was great, you should have seen the look on his face when you sang! Hahaha, I've never seen anything so hilarious in my life! Oh, my God!"

I grinned and took a bow. "I was scared out of my mind, though. Especially when he was coming back, I thought for sure we were dead!"

She shook her finger at me, her face red from laughing, "But we're not! Didn't I tell you!"

I nodded happily, and shushed her. "You are a very loud person. Good for politicians, bad for espionage spies."

She clamped a hand over her own mouth and nodded vigorously.

As soon as we had started out again, our joy vanished and was replaced by that same dull fear we had had in the jail. We walked the only path we knew; to the interrogation room. I peered through the peephole to see if anyone was in there. To my great astonishment, no one was. I waved Amy forward, and holding my breath, kept watch as she opened it.

It was empty, and we raced forward. I had told her about that smaller orb, and she agreed that if the big hand needed to move it, it was super powerful.

So, we just decided to… borrow it.

We tiptoed up to the big orb. As I thought how to get it out, Amy walked around it, to see if there were any ways up. With no luck, she ran back to the door and closed and locked it.

I tried jumping, running and jumping, and everything else I could think of. Still, it was too high for me to reach. Amy stood behind me, arms crossed, and she said, finally, quietly, "Lift me up. I think I could just reach in there and grab it."

I looked at her confusedly until she sighed and pointed to it. "It moves a little, like the surface moves like water."

"Oh. Okay then."

Squatting, I willed myself to forget the exhaustion and complete malnutrition we had been living with for the last weeks. I remembered the adrenaline rushing through my body, and willed that to come back. As she stepped on my back, I grunted and said through gritted teeth, "Do you see it?"

After a pause, she sucked in her breath and said with wonder, "Yeah, yeah I do. Wow, how could I have not seen that before?"

"Amy!"

"Right! Sorry."

I heard a strange sucking sound as she put her arm through the strange material. I felt myself weakening, and sweat beaded on my forehead.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, she stepped down and I straightened, groaning and popping my back in three places. I turned to face her. She smiled at me, and I put my hands on my hips and said, "Well?"

In answer, she held out the small orb. It was floating above her hands, but moved with her every movement. It cast a golden light on both of us, and I reached out to touch it. It felt like rubber, and made a pure sound when I flicked it.

We both smiled. Oh, yes. Even we, two 'stupid' human girls, could feel the power radiating from this thing.

* * *

**MINDSPRING- Alright, writer's block is GONE! HUZZAH! Anyway, this turnedout really really well, I thought, and so now I want to hear from you, the people who make me want to write! That's correct, I'm speaking about you, readers! But I'm not pressuring you to review. Freedom of choice, baby. Most important one of all. And, also, as soon as you either a.) Finish reviewing or b.) finish reading this, please check my profile for a poll that will determine what I write next!**

**As always...**

**DFTBA!  
**


	14. Into the Shadow Realm

As soon as we had the orb in our grasp, we ran to the opposite side of the large chamber and used the cards again to get into another doorway. Amy fumbled with it as I tried to figure out how to carry such an awkwardly shaped object. I turned it this way and that, and eventually hissed in exasperation, "Ah, my God! I need a tote for this thing!"

Amy shot me a look that clearly read shut-the-hell-up-or-I'll-murder-you. I smiled and shrugged innocently. While she tried again with the stolen card, I became slowly aware of a strange hissing noise, a low, continuous one, and then a quiet crack. It kept repeating over and over again, and finally Amy looked up, her eyebrows bunched in confusion, and mouthed, "_What the hell?" _

I bit my lip and widened my eyes to tell her I had no freaking idea. She stood slowly and backed up against the wall before breathily calling out, "Hello? Who's there?"

Nothing.

With another loud crack, I jumped, Amy screamed and jumped, and a large blue tote fell down at my feet.

Amy was clinging to me, completely off the ground and dangling on my neck. I spluttered and choked, and tried to stay standing as she hesitantly let go. I rubbed my neck and glared at her, but she said, "I don't think that's the problem here, Jessabell!"

Never taking her eyes off of the tote, she walked forward extremely slowly, one step at a time. She was still at least a foot and a half away when she reached out a pale arm, and poked it cautiously on the side. Surprisingly, nothing happened. It was just a tote bag.

A freaky, appearing-out-of-nowhere, haunted tote bag. I sighed and thought, _Good, my favorite kind_.

Amy swooped down and picked it up, examining it from ever angle, checking the material, feeling inside of it, and then she looked up at me. She said in a tone that was tired and hyper at the same time, "Please explain this to me."

I grabbed the tote from her and re-checked it, and suddenly a thought hit me. _Holy crap, I had just said I needed a tote, and then it dropped down from above us, where_- I looked up, squinting into the darkness but only seeing the black and strange shots of weirdly colored light, _where nothing is. I wonder…_

Ignoring Amy all together, I put the orb inside of the tote, dropped it to the ground, and called out to the spaces above, "I need a… a Northface." The same hissing sound echoed off of the pillars and columns in the dark room, cracking at random intervals. With another loud, final crack, a black Northface jacket fell in front of me, landing in a heap.

Amy got it as soon as I had. "Oh, my God," she breathed in wonder, "whatever this stuff is can understand us and give us what we ask for! Oh, sweet Jesus, that's probably the most amazing, slightly random, but amazing thing _ever._" She too played around with it before we remembered that we weren't supposed to be in here; we were supposed to be in custody of the fat jailer man, who I had just kicked, hit, and knocked in rather… _uncomfortable_ places. I winced and Amy and I slid through the door, admiring our new things.

For some reason, I started to think of the others, although I had been trying to do that exact opposite ever since we were all separated. It had been at least two weeks since we had seen each other last, and my stomach turned over uncomfortably as I thought of Paul, his charming smile, his soothing voice, memories, keeping our love a secret, the conversations we had had, the ones we were going to share…

I reached out and touched the wall with the tips of my fingers. At once, I knew this was a different place than our cell, or the large interrogation room that we had just came out of. The material of the walls moved with my touched, like the surface of a pool, but more solid, like a soft rubber. It indented where I pressed in, and the slowly formed back to the original shape. It felt cool, but heated at the same time, as if someone had just turned the heat on and it was starting to work its way through the material. _I think that this is what listened and made what we asked for. The ceiling must have remained like this while they hardened the floors and walls. Weird._

Amy and I walked for at least thirty minutes before we came to another door, this time bright red with black markings. For some strange reason, it was emitting a purple-black steam, which disappeared after a few seconds. Amy had already whipped out the card and opened the door before I could even ask. I applauded her silently, and laughed as she took a circus bow.

We stepped into a dark room, and suddenly the door slammed shut behind us, locked itself, and disappeared. In horror, we threw ourselves against where it had just been and pounded our fists in vain. Nothing was there.

I couldn't help myself, I gave up then and there. I slid slowly down the liquidized walls and pulled my knees to my chest. I couldn't cry, I had no more tears left. Amy stopped and looked down on my while I looked up. She wasn't going to cry anymore. Instead, she held out her hand and forced me up and gathered me in a giant bear hug and whispered, "It's gonna be okay, we'll get outta here. I promise." I shook my head, couldn't she see that I had lost faith, that we were doomed with no chances of survival?

"Amy? Jessabell? Are you alright?"

I started, and Amy choked.

It was Link. I looked up, saw him standing there looking confused, and I practically screamed and jumped him. Amy ran up and hugged him, sobbing. I was exhilarated, we were saved, free, and we could give him the orb… After a few seconds, I started to realize he wasn't doing anything. I let go of him and stepped backwards, frowning. For the first time, I really looked at him.

It was him, but it _wasn't _him, too.

He was wearing the same clothing as Link, but it was darker and his skin was darker also. He gripped his sword in his left hand, and looked at us with bright yellow eyes. I clamped a hand over my mouth as I realized, horrified, that this Link was made out of the same material as the walls. I looked over at Amy, and her expression matched mine. Terrified, we stepped back slowly from this clone.

He stepped forward, and said again, "Amy? Jessabell? Are you alright?" But his eyes were distant, not focused on us or anything else I could see. His hand tightened around the sword. I didn't breathe; I was to stunned to do anything. Amy, however, took a deep breath and stepped forward. Only I could see that she was trembling violently, and I hissed, "_What are you doing?"_

She replied with sign language: "_Getting us outta here."_

I bowed my head and started to pray fervently.

I heard her say, "Link! Oh, my God, thank God! You're here, and now you can help us! We need to get out of this room and into the… uh, the place outside. You will help, won't you?"

After a few seconds pause, he replied in a gruff voice, "Maybe. If you give me the Smash Ball, I might lead you out. Where is it?"

I looked up. Amy had frozen, trying not to look at me and at the same time her eyes found mine. I shook my head very quickly, and when she didn't answer, I walked forward and said, my voice shaking a little, "What's a Smash Ball?"

He frowned and said, "You know. You took it."

I cocked my head. "No, we didn't…"

"Yes, you did! It's in that tote!"

"Uh, no… that tote is carrying something else."

"Oh, really? Like what?"

"Uh, stuff. Important… important stuff."

"What's that?"

Hiding a mischievous smile, Amy walked forward and whispered in his eyes. His eyes immediately grew to the size of tennis balls and he gulped, "Oh, uh, okay then. I won't look in there." I hid a giggle and realized we still needed to get the crap out of here. I also thought about how the Smashers each were like our friends in small ways… which gave me an idea… Fake-coughing to cover up what I was really whispering, I stood unnoticed as Amy stalled the clone-Link.

As the hissing grew louder, and so did the cracks, I coughed just as loud to cover it up. A little bag dropped at my feet, and a small lighter. I smiled at Amy to get her attention. Clone-Link was deep in conversation with her, which was one of her many talents, getting people to talk. She looked at me and the bag in confusion, and as I signed to her what I was going to do, her eyes widened and she had to stifle a laugh as well. She moved so she was blocking me from his view. I bent and quickly lit the small bag. Immediately, it started to smoke, and a horrible smell filled the large room. Amy crinkled her nose and said, "Ugh, Jessa, do you smell that?"

I pretended to inhale a big whiff, though in reality there was no frickin' way I was breathing in for a while. I frowned and nodded, and waved my hand in front of my nose. Clone-Link failed to hide his curiosity, "Smell what?"

I smiled my most innocent smile and gestured for him to come over where I was standing. I kicked the lighter away, and moved so that he was directly above the bag. As he came over, Amy pulled up her shirt to cover her nose and used that as a mask.

It only took a few minutes. Soon, Clone-Link had a dreamy look on his face, eyes dilated and he was struggling to stay on his feet. I bent in and whispered through my shirt, "Hey, dude, can you open the door for us?"

He nodded and staggered to the door. I grabbed the tote and carefully closed the top, so as not to let the light shine through. Amy and I did not look at each other until the door had slammed shut to the clone saying to himself, "Wow, the colors are so _pretty…_"

I looked at Amy. For a few seconds, we held in our laughter, and soon were overcome with peals of laughter, ringing throughout the hall-thing. Amy wiped tears from her eyes as she said with no breath, "Drugging him with marijuana! That was brilliant, just plain fucking brilliant... Oh, my God, I'm crying…"

Pretty soon, we were near another door, much like the one that had Clone-Link in it. I smirked and shook my head when Amy gestured to it. On the other side of the 'hall', however, there was a metallic door, a somewhat innocent-looking one. I shrugged and walked over to it.

It felt smooth, cold and solid under my fingers. I pressed one ear to it, and heard voices.

Not just any voices.

Pit. Mario. Link. Yoshi. Kirby. Falco. Fox. Diddy. Marth. Ike. Meta Knight.

And Paul.

* * *

**MINDSPRING- Le gasp! 0.0 I tried to make this as supspensful as possible. Did I succeed, or no? Also, yes I do I think that the Subspace stuff would be able to do that. Review, si vous plait! Merci! No, I am not French!**


	15. In Which the World Becomes Right Again

My heart stopped, and then started beating again, faster and faster. It felt like it was doing flips, over and over again, ecstatic, joyful, and complete for the first time in a long time. My head was throbbing, I was tearing, and I had to lean against the metal door, for fear of collapsing, my knees were so weak. I couldn't hear or see Amy next to help, nor did I feel her cautious touch on my shoulder. My nerves felt like they were on fire, my skin tingled, and my lips started to hurt; wanting to be kissed. My breath was coming in short gasps, and I had actually started to cry out.

I hadn't realized how much I had missed him.

Visions of us flooded my mind, and I smiled, for real, for the first time in two weeks. _Us talking, kissing, hiding our love, the walks, the conversations, the ones that we were to have, laughs, joy…_

Amy's low voice broke my ecstasy, "Honey, we still need to check if it's actually them. If it's like last time…" She didn't need to complete her sentence; we were both on the same page. I masked my joy, composing my best poker face, steadied myself and stood upright. I nodded at her serious face. "Alright, then. How are we going to check?" I was still slightly giddy, so I left one ear nonchalantly pressed to the cold door. I frowned; I thought I heard something else besides their voices… a low clanking…?

She smiled, and folded her arms. "I might have an idea." She flipped up the cards we had stolen from our jailer, and I stepped aside. She bent down and got to work opening it.

My frown deepened; another noise had joined the first. A low growling, plus the sound of something charging, it sounded like. _What the hell?_ I thought, and I turned around, back the way we came.

I swear I stopped breathing.

I was now face to face with Jackie, and several robots surrounding her. All had guns pointed straight at my chest; Jackie's aimed at my head.

I froze, staring down the barrel of her advanced weapon. The smug expression on her face made my skin crawl; I wanted to tear it right off her face. It was silent, I made no sound, neither did she or her minions. Amy was still working on the door, concentrating, completely oblivious. As her fingers hurried through the process, she slowly became aware of my silence. Slowly, unbearably slowly, I watched her head turn, her eyes pop, and her hands drop the cards. She stood and backed against the wall, her fingers splayed across the strange rubber walls.

Jackie motioned with her gun that I join Amy on the wall. I obliged, and soon we were surrounded.

Jackie's voice cut through the silence first, like a knife, "Which one of you has the Smash Ball?"

I didn't move; neither did Amy. The tote bag seemed to grow exceptionally heavy on my shoulder, and I struggled not to drop it and kick it away. Luckily I had closed the top, so nothing shone through.

_If only we could reach them; they are just on the other side- so close! How to reach them, though?? And how to get this traitor away from us?_

The seconds stretched in minutes.

Finally, she got tired of it. With an impatient sigh, Jackie shook her head and said grimly, that awful smile still etched upon her features, "Alright, then. Ganondorf it is." As she began to move towards us, Amy and I slid away. I whispered, barely moving my lips like a ventriloquist, "Did she just call us 'major dorks'?"

Amy replied in a side-whisper, keeping her eyes on the round shape of Jackie as she bent to open the door, "I have no idea, but that's what it sounded like…" she giggled softly, her eyes gleaming mischievously, "She had better look in a mirror, for sure." I coughed loudly to cover up my laughs.

_What's wrong with you? You are about to DIE, and you're laughing like its some crazy dream, or joke? Well, then you had better wake up, and soon, too! But, honestly, why does she think I'm carrying around a freakin' huge tote bag? Just for the heck of it?_

I grabbed Amy's hand for stability as the metal door slid open. My stomach dropped when the voices were suddenly louder, and Tori, Dylan, Scoops, Psyche, Caleb, Bri, Addie, Aliza, Chase, and Aaron's voices suddenly joined in whatever conversation was happening.

We had stepped off onto a extremely wide platform that ran around the wall of the room, which was about the same size as our interrogation room. A small wall ran along the platform's edge, blocking us from the people down below on the floor. We were still in the strange type of room thing that we had been running through- the rubber-like material, although this room had been hardened a lot more. Still, the same colors and substances were visible. A strong point of light was peaking just over the lip of the fence, illuminating the room oddly. Our escort was hushed now, being so close to so many powerful enemies. Some twenty five robots were surrounding us, with Jackie at the head. All guns were out and loaded, waiting for one of us to make one false move.

Had I mentioned I could barely move, I was so scared?

We reached an elevator-type thing that was shimmering gently. It was an odd one, too; it had no doors and four columns supporting the ancient-looking roof. I hesitated before stepping on, it looked dangerously unsteady. I received a sharp zap from one of the robots; literally. He had zapped me with a laser-thing!

As I rubbed it and slowly started to get on, Amy was pulling back. When I glanced over my shoulder to see the reason for the hold-up, I grinned at once. Her face was scrunched, her eyes half closed, and her mouth open, with her other free arm lifted to her face. A sneeze would be all it takes to alert them down below, our allies, that we were here.

Luckily, Jackie had no idea or clue and was busying peering over the edge of the fence at something. That something obviously pissed her off, because her face was turning several different shades of several different unhealthy colors for a face to be turning.

"Damn it, they killed him! Crap, what am I supposed to do with these two? Damn it, damn it, damn it!" I lifted my eyebrows in disbelief; she was talking to herself in hushed, hurried whispers. It was ridiculous; it was like she had completely forgotten we were there. I looked around at our guards. Who were completely ignoring it, like it happened all the time. I couldn't help it, I started to grin, and a few low chuckles echoed quietly around the room.

_Dang, Amy's a slow snee-_ just then, it echoed around the hall loudly enough for the people on the floor to shut up at once. I turned and saw Amy smiling sheepishly, for some reason blushing. What was pretty hilarious was that not Jackie or the escort caught it, they didn't even move. However, down below us, I heard someone whisper, I think it was Chase, "That was Amy, I swear to God."

After a pause, Aaron replied incredulously, "How the hell do you know that?"

Chase muttered something which was met by a short burst of laughter, and then instant shushing. That seemed to jerk Jackie out of her trance, and she turned to Amy and said sharply, "What did you do?"

Amy grinned. Jackie did not realize that she had just handed Amy the power to speak, and speak she did. Well, shouted, more like. "Well, _Jackie,_ who _betrayed_ us, I sneezed, and a damn good one it was, too. Whenever I sneeze, I think it makes my day so much better- OW!" She just got zapped, too, and I wheeled around and said just as loudly to the robot, "Hey! She was _asked_ to speak, you retarded piece-o'-crap!"

Another burst of laughter was soon followed by a lot of someones running across the floor and leaping at the same time. Fox, Pit, and Ike all had grabbed the ledge, flipped up, and where facing the escort with murder in their eyes, weapons out and ready. I nearly started to cry when I saw how protective they all were, and by Amy's squeeze I knew she felt the same. Soon, those three had been joined by Mario, Link, a beautiful brown- haired lady in an ancient dress with elf ears, Marth, Falco, Diddy, a larger monkey... You know what, I'll just say that thirty-six very angry looking people/animal/things suddenly surrounded us.

All were tense, all eyes zeroed in on the twenty-some robots, who had turned their guns on the enemy. But, _aww_, sad for them, there were just too many…

On some unspoken signal, all of them charged and began attacking. Amy and I quickly realized that we didn't want to be chopped into bits, and so we ran out of the fray, barely dodging furious swings. I couldn't resist giving the three original ledge-leapers a peck on the cheek as we ran past them. I spat out some of Fox's fur though, which was gross. But I had to take one for the team, so it was all good.

The only way down was now the elevator, and Amy, Jackie, and I were standing next to it, staring at each other as sounds of battle and screeching robots echoed off of the walls. At another unspoken signal, we all rushed towards it, pushing her out of they, and she tried to push us out of the way. As soon as we had reached it, I realized a very serious problem: I had no idea how to work it.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jackie pulling something triumphantly out of her pocket and holding it up. I launched myself at her, because I could see that it controlled the elevator. Amy tried to help, too, as I wrestled Jackie for the card. She pulled Jackie's hair and tried to hit her, but Jackie through her off. At that, she dropped the card, and at the same time she and Amy dived towards it.

What was running through my mind was the strangest thing: Instead of _Oh, crap! Need to get that card!_, or _Get off of me, get off of me, hit, slap, kick!_, it was _Wow, I bet we are a pretty funny sight. Three girls hitting+ slapping+ pulling hair= Catfight!_ I shook my head and grabbed Jackie's arms to hold her back as Amy got the card first. She smiled and started to jump, feeling proud of herself, until I hissed through clenched teeth," YO! AMY!"

"Oh, right!" She leapt over Jackie and me and swiped it. I pulled Jackie after me, so we were all on the elevator. Since there were no walls on this thing, I could keep a watch on the fight until it disappeared beneath the floor, and then I saw our friends, lined up and waiting like the Secret Service. I positively beamed. I tried to shake my hair and sweat out of my eyes, since both my arms and hands were currently preoccupied at this moment in time. I remembered something, said a few words, and tied Jackie's hands behind her back so she couldn't move with rope that had fallen to my feet.

_This is a pretty damn slow elevator_, I thought, straightening. I glanced at Amy. She was out of breath, her face red, a few cuts and scratches from Jackie's freaky-long nails, but otherwise fine. She smiled and gave me a thumbs up.

As the elevator slowly clanked to a halt, the fight sounds above disappeared and was replaced with screaming, crying, laughing, exclaiming, shouting, talking, and more than I could possibly remember. Amy and I practically leapt into a huge group hug. I was sobbing along with all the other girls, and some of the boys, although they tried to hide it. Jesus, typical much?

I didn't know which hand or arm belonged to who, but I really didn't care all that much. All I cared to know was that I was in their arms again, and it felt hella good. I felt someone pull my chin up, and through my tears, I could see Paul beaming down at me, unwept tears flooding his eyes. The world seemed to slow as he bent down, slowly, amazingly, heart-wrenchingly, and brought his lips to mine.

All I cared to think about was that the world was right again.

* * *

**MINDSPRING- Yay!! I think I did good on this chapter; better than the last few! But that's just my opinion; a self-biased author's opinion... Ok I shall stop acting odd now. Perchance you review? It would make my day/night/twilight/dawn/evening/afternoon/OK I'M DONE! PLease leave some comments, and tanks! C:**


	16. Mechanical Evil

Amy and I were surrounded by smiling, sobbing friends, all asking the same question: "What the hell happened to you guys?" In varying forms.

I turned with difficulty, still clinging to Paul, to face Amy. She was similarly clutching at Chase, who looked like he could not believe his girlfriend was still alive and in one piece. I asked her, "Should we tell them?"

She smiled slowly, and said, a devious twinkle in her eyes, "Well, I must admit I am rather curious to hear what happened to them first. Let us wait, shall we, Jessa dear?"

"But of course, Amy dear." We rotated our boyfriends so that we four were facing the rest of our friends. All of them immediately shut up at once. I smiled grimly; the power that comes with absence is strong.

Amy spoke first, "Now I _know_ you all are wondering what happened to us..."

"You bet your ass we are!"

"Come on, tell!"

She held up her hand, and I continued for her, "However, we want to know what happened to you all first."

"No!"

"Aw, come on, that's not fair!"

"Have some mercy, will ya?"

We shook our heads at the same time. After about two solid minutes of complaints and persuasions, finally I agreed. "Ok, ok. Fine. But straight afterwards, you all tell."

"Jessabell!"

"I'm sorry, jeez. I can't hold out that long!"

Tori raised her hand, and started to wave it around like crazy. When I picked on her, she said, "Why do you guys smell like crack?" I burst out laughing, and Amy struggled to maintain her voice when she answered, "We sorta had to drug someone to get out of a situation. Don't worry; all shall be revealed."

Aaron said, his arms crossed defiantly, "Yeah right. I bet you guys just wanted a smoke." I rolled my eyes as Amy slapped him.

So we had them sit down in a circle around us, and be quiet. Then, amidst the clangs of the battle raging above us, I started.

_--Twenty minutes later…--_

By this time, the Smashers had joined us. They stood, staring at us, arms crossed or covering their mouths in horror. Scoops' face was that of disbelief and wonder. Tori's mouth was hanging open, and Aaron was staring at us. Addie looked worried, and Caleb breathed, "Holy crap."

I smiled as that started the talk. They all leapt up, surrounded us, and praised, complimented, and nearly strangled us with hugs. Luckily, no one started to cry again. Amy asked Scoops if she would tell what happened to them first. She agreed at once, and shoved everyone else down. Then she began imperiously, "Lucky me, I was stuck with Aaron, and Paul. After we split up, we actually caught up Falco, Fox, and Diddy. A couple robots had followed, but they were sliced up pretty quick. And so for a few days, I tried to keep my sanity, but I think it broke when Aaron actually _walked_ into one of those black hole things."

Falco and Fox started to laugh heartily as Aaron protested. He said, "I'm sorry, it was dark! I couldn't see anything! Jesus!"

Scoops stared at him, crossed her arms, and said, "Dude! It was a _black hole in the sky_! You just don't walk into stuff like that!"

"Well, you know wha-"

"What, that you're a dumbass?"

I rolled my eyes, and laughed as Aliza pulled Scoops down and said, "I was with everyone else- Psyche, Addie, Caleb, Chase, Bri, and Dylan. Nothing really exciting happened to us; we had Mario, Link, Pit, Yoshi, and Kirby. First, we tried to help them find Peach (Mario's girlfriend), Luigi (his bro), and Ness, but someone had already invaded the cave where they were and had taken them away. But now that everyone else is here, I think Ness and Luigi were actually still in there, but hidden. So after that, we ran and met up with Ike, Marth, Meta Knight, Nana and Popo, and a few others. Imagine our surprise when they said that they had actually _seen _you guys."

Ike spoke up at this part, and muttered, "Yeah, they wouldn't leave us alone for at least two days. It was so annoying."

Marth nodded empathetically, and murmured, "You have some crazy friends."

Meta Knight just sighed.

I stared at them, sitting there on the floor, legs crossed and dirty faces shining. I looked over at Amy; her face matched mine perfectly. I asked, somewhat breathily, "That's it?"

They nodded, their eyes becoming cautious and worried. They looked around, as if they were in trouble. "I know, not very exciting-"

I said, before I could think about it, "Not very exciting! Holy shit!"

There was a moment of pure silence, and then they started to scream.

"Oh, my GOD! She did it, she did it!"

"She finally cussed!"

"Yeah, Jessabell!"

"It's Armageddon, I swear to God!"

"WHOA!"

I turned to Paul, whose eyes were laughing, and his small smile barely containing his laughter. I said, "Oh, the simplicities of our friends."

"No kidding. They are, as we know, very easily amused children."

I giggled and brought my lips to his, closing my eyes and smiling as someone started to wolf-whistle and Aaron yelled out, "Yeah, Paul, get some!" I heard a sharp slap and Aaron started to mutter under his breath.

For about an hour, we just sat and joked, talked, and laughed our guts out. The Smashers set up their stuff a few feet away, and began to make battle plans. Instead of paying attention to our friends, I watched the Smashers with a deep, burning curiosity. Their heads were bent, and their voices were sharp, cold, and hurried. It was as if we didn't have much time, before… something happened.

I turned to Paul and asked quietly, "Who are the rest of them?"

He looked over his shoulder, and whispering in my ear, he started to rattle off their names.

"Okay, the woman in the large metal suit is Samus."

"That's a girl!?" I whispered, disbelief etched into my face.

He nodded and smiled. "Mmhmm, and the little yellow rat is Pikachu. He's a Pokémon-

"That's _real_!?"

He sighed and said, false exasperation in his voice, "Come on, Jessa. You wanted to know, so stop interrupting! There will be a question and answering session _afterward_."

I rolled my eyes as he prattled off some more names. "The blond in the pink is Peach; the woman with elf ears is Zelda, Link's girlfriend; that man in army cameo is Snake; the really buff dude is Captian Falcon; the small spaceman with a bunch of plants following him is Olimar; the…"

It continued for a good five minutes, and by the end my head was spinning. "Oh, Jesus. That's a lot of names to remember…"

He shrugged. "You get used to it."

As I stared into the distance, ignoring the random babble of friends, I took in the surroundings of the room. As I had mentioned before, it was the same material, that weird, rubbery stuff, with the colors shooting across the sky at random intervals. I moved my eyes past the group of Smashers, and I nearly let out a small scream of horror as I soaked up the sight of a large, bloody hand, lying crumpled in the middle of the room.

It was the same one I had seen in my dreams. Next to it, a small statue of a startlingly tall and ferocious-looking man was lying lopsided, frozen in a terrifying position. It was our interrogator. I looked at the hand again, and I saw the round spots of blood, just below the fingers, where the golden chains had been implanted.

Now it lay on its back, fingers splayed in the air like spiders' legs, with four deep wounds impaling the otherwise spotless white of the glove it wore.

I turned away and buried my face in Paul's shoulder again, trying to erase the image. That could only mean one thing; that the blue man had revealed himself and had discarded his workers. Even though I hated the man who was lying frozen in a statue, I couldn't help but feel a tingle of pity for him.

"Jessabell, Amy! Could you two please come over here for a second?"

I looked up. The lady in the pink dress was standing a few feet from us, a smile frozen on her features. Peach, I think Paul said her name was. The rest of the Smashers were waiting, looking at our group with searching eyes. I looked over at Amy, who was basically in the same position as I was. At a nod of my head, we both separated ourselves and stood. We walked over to her, and Amy asked, "Yeah? What is it?"

Peach turned and motioned for us to follow her. "We just need your help with something, really quickly." I shrugged at Amy and signed, _What do you think?_

_Idk._ Although Amy's response was chilled, I could tell from that sparkle in her eyes she was extremely happy again.

_Should we tell them about the drugging of clone-Link?_

She snorted, and smiled innocently at the looks she received. _Ha, probably. They weren't there to hear it._

As we approached, they opened up a spot for us and Fox started to explain: They just wanted to know if we had seen anything that had looked like a ball, with different colors shooting around it and gold light…

Before Fox could even finish the description, Amy and I had bolted away from them, past our friends' powwow, and were up in the elevator in a flash. I giggled at the surprised faces as they disappeared from view. I said, "I think they worry for our sanity."

Amy nodded, and when we got out of the elevator, a mass carnage of robots greeted us. I stepped lightly over sparking wires, broken metals, and creepily enough, smashed in robot heads. It was slightly disturbing, but you know, that's what you get when you piss off several Smashers. Amy swooned, and hurried over to where I had dropped the large blue tote. I gingerly picked it up, made sure that the stolen possession was still in there, and like wildfire we darted back to the elevator, and back to the group of stunned Smashers, both breathing deeply.

Proudly, I protruded the bag to Fox, who slowly opened it. When he saw what we in it, he gave a yelp of surprise and yelled at the top of his lungs, "_YES!!"_ The bag was passed around, until every person had gotten the chance to see it. As they all saw it, their eyes widened and they began to swarm us, giving us hugs and thanks and praise. I even got a few pecks on the cheeks. Blushing, I smiled and ducked my head.

I looked at Amy; apparently, we had just made them very, very happy. We backed out of the group and left them exclaiming over the ball. I noticed the tall figure in the metal suit looking at us. As I bit my lip, she nodded gravely, and then turned back to the Smashers. _Well, I guess we have just earned the respect of… what was her name… Sammy? _We walked back to our group, who were waiting patiently for an explanation.

Before I could answer, or even open my mouth, a strange blue light filled the room. I looked behind me, and saw, to my horror, an immense blue figure, made out of what looked like electricity, floating above us all, wings like a butterfly's stretched out. _From my dreams. The blue man from my dreams! Crap! _His face was pure anger. For a few terrible seconds, everyone looked at each other and the figure, terror carved onto each face. In slow-mo, it seemed, he unfurled hi arms and legs, extending them to full length. With an awful scream, a shiver of the air, and a crack, he sent huge shockwaves straight at us, and the group of Smashers.

The red beams shot out in all directions, shaking the floors and walls of the room. The force was enough to make Amy and I fall, and we couldn't stand again. We didn't even try. Screams of shock and pain filled the room as the shockwaves rebounded off walls and people.

As the first one hurtled towards us, I saw something horrifying: Each and every single one of the Smashers, our saviors, was turned into a statue. The tough Smashers had just been defeated in one fell swoop, in about a second. My heart was thudding, I couldn't move, and I screamed again as a shockwave came right for us. As it impacted with my body, I felt it go up my spine, and through my bones. I felt as though I was boiling from the inside out, and I writhed and screamed in pain as the force picked Amy and I up, tossed us like rag dolls through the air, and hurtled us towards the opposite wall. We slammed into it, and as I fell, closing my eyes, the last thing I saw was the blue man's triumphant grin as his giant fist closed over the stolen ball, and crushed it to pieces with one simple movement of his wrist. As blackness flooded my vision, the last thing I heard in my head was a mechanical laugh; harsh, grating, and evil in every respect of the word.

* * *

**MINDSPRING- Dun, dun, _dun_... Oh, no! Orignally, I wanted this scene to be extended into two chapters, but as my brother pointed out, in the Subspace Emmisary, this scene happens really fast. Like lightening. So I basically had to re-type this whole thing. (In the first take, Jessa and Amy help Peach with breakfast... and it just goes downhill from there, people.)(I actually like this one better. The first one was just _odd._)  
**

**So, tell me what you think! What you loved, what you hated, what you noticed... and all that jazz! DFTBA!  
**


	17. Plans, Preparations, and Moves

I handed Tori, Aaron, and Chase three cloaks, gave them hurried instructions, and then returned back to the injured. Those three ducked under their cloaks and immediately disappeared. Aliza lay on the ground, clutching her leg.

We had hidden from the blue man's presence by means of ducking in the shadows, but even then I think he could sense us. I don't think he cared about us anymore. He had what he wanted.

I was in charge of taking care of injuries, since I was the only one with a Red Cross certificate in that area, which didn't really matter now. What mattered was that I knew exactly how to take care of peoples' injuries. Aliza, Amy, Bri, and Dylan were all injured, or the most out of all of us. I'm pretty sure Aliza's shin bone had snapped when she landed, and Amy's wrist was swollen and throbbing. Not a good sign. Bri had an extremely long cut on her leg, from her knee to her ankle, deep and raw. Dylan had landed strangely on his neck and back, and he couldn't move his legs.

Which, to say the least, scared the fricking crap out of me. I didn't want to scare anyone else, so I had him sit up against the wall and tuck his legs in Indian-style. They all looked pale.

As soon as I had woken up, I had asked for a lot of medical things, and now I used some of it to splint her leg; straighten her wrist; clean, disinfect, and bandage her cut; and finally, to ease some of his pain in his neck and upper back. Even though it pained him, he was extremely proud, and would not let me ask anyone to help him, or even tell anyone else.

Everyone else, besides the invalids and the three collecting the statues, was planning what to do with a small boy, a fat penguin, and a taller, thinner Mario. Ness, King Dedede, and Luigi. Somehow, they had escaped the rays which turned everyone else into a statue.

I guess I should explain how we met up. After the off-waves had echoed off the walls enough, it was silent for about five minutes. This is when I woke up from being knocked against the wall, mercifully uninjured, and started to walk around, making sure everyone was alright. We all were (somewhat), but a lot of people had been shaking violently from after-shock, and Dylan, Aliza, Amy, and Bri had difficulty standing. Bri had been surrounded by a gruesome pool of blood, Aliza was just clutching her leg, Amy was sobbing and holding onto her wrist, and Dylan was whimpering softly, legs sprawled.

After we had moved into the shadows, I set up the 'invalid' area and began to take care of them. Caleb, Scoops, and Paul moved Jackie near the main group to keep an eyes on her. She has been unconscious this whole time, but she wasn't dead. Tori, Aaron, and Chase had then wanted to go get the statues, and right before I handed them the cloaks, King 3D, Luigi, and Ness appeared from above. Their loud voices alerted us to them, and Addie ran over to the elevator to catch them before Tabuu saw them. She brought them over to us, and, well, here we are now.

I listened in as I massaged Dylan's neck, "…what you would call a badge, a timed badge that would de-trophy a Smasher after a certain length of time. So I captured Wario's cargo and took those three- Zelda, Ness, and Luigi, - somewhere I thought safe."

"But not safe enough," Scoops asked, "because Bowser found you and took Zelda?"

"Yeah, but he couldn't see me and Luigi 'cause the rocks he made fall were on top of us. He only saw Zelda, and King 3D wasn't a trophy yet." I grimaced at Ness's poor grammar. Hey, once an editor, always an editor.

"Ok then. So what do you need to do now?"

Luigi spoke up. He sounded almost exactly like his older brother, Mario, "We need to get all of the other trophies, and make the Smashers de-trophied again. And then we'll fight Tabuu." He pointed at the large blue man, and we all turned to stare at him. He hadn't moved since he statue-fied everyone else. He seemed to be in hibernating, and I wasn't the only one who noticed the pun on his name.

I cleared my throat, and blushed as everyone turned to look at me. "Tori, Aaron, and Chase are already out there, getting the 'trophies'." I smiled to myself as they all turned, confused, to the seemingly empty space in front of them. I didn't have to look; I knew that they would never spot them.

Finally Psyche asked, "Where are they? I don't see them."

"Of course you don't. They're hidden."

Ness climbed on King 3D's hat to get a better view. Not even kidding; he was Monkey Boy. "How?"

"Invisibility cloaks."

The excitement in my nerdy group of friends was almost palpable. Scoops clapped her hands to her mouth; she was the Harry Potter fanatic. "No way! They actually _exist?_"

I nodded, "Well, they are if you ask for them." My friends looked impressed. However, Ness, Luigi, and King 3D still looked confused. "I'll explain when they get back."I turned back to the 'invalids' as Addie brought up the subject of getting out of this room for now. I couldn't leave them alone, and besides the constant talking was really getting boring. Paul stood and followed as I made my way to the little huddle lying on mats. While I was pricking Dylan's legs, to see if he could feel anything, Paul helped Aliza stand with the help of some crude crutches. When he tried to help Amy, she sniffed and turned away, and started talking to Bri. I rolled my eyes. _Really, Amy? Get over it already!_

I was just about to grab some more salve for Bri's cut (because I know you all are completely fascinated with this stuff) when six statues apparently pushed themselves next to me. I just stopped what I was doing and crossed my arms, waiting. Out of nowhere, Tori, Aaron, and Chase threw off their cloaks, beaming and looking extremely amused. They each brought over two statues: Tori brought Link and Pit, Aaron brought Zelda and Peach (typical), and Chase had pushed over Fox and Falco.

"Ok, those things are _way_ heavy!" Tori complained, rubbing her shoulders. Aaron rolled his eyes and was about to reply when I interrupted, "Not now, please. You three need to get over there and explain the cloaks. The Smashers are way confused, and then you to go back and get the rest of the Smashers."

Aaron muttered something under his breath about 'FML…' before I shoved them towards the oblivious group of discussion-ers. I turned back to the injured. I took one more look at Bri's injury and declared her okay to leave. She got up carefully and limped over to the group. Amy followed shortly thereafter, clutching her wrist and making a bigger deal out of it than it already was. I heard some exclamations over the injuries before the talk resumed.

Now it was just Aliza, Dylan, Paul, and me. I caught the expression in his eyes and looked around for wary eyes. Aliza was staring off into space, Dylan was starting to get to sleep, and everyone else had their backs towards us. Before I nodded and walked over to him, I asked Aliza to keep an eye out for people and to warn us if anyone came near. She agreed, and winked at me.

We walked around the corner, hidden from view. I smiled and hugged him tightly. "_Bonjour,_ _mon amour."_

He laughed quietly, smiling, "What?"

I rolled my eyes mockingly and pecked him on the cheek. "Hello, my love."

"Ah. Makes more sense." He paused, cleared his throat, and put his forehead on mine. I looked into his brown eyes as he said, "Jessabell, I love you, I really do. You're the only sane one in the group, I swear."

I grinned and sighed, "I love you too. So this is love, huh?"

"Yep. Wonderful thing, isn't it?"

For an answer, I turned and leaned back. He wrapped his arms around my waist, and put his chin on top of my hair, and started to sway. We were looking out in the distance. It would have been more romantic if there wasn't an evil man/electronic/beast in the same vicinity, sure. But for how long we had been separated, it was pure heaven. Bliss. Better than Tahiti, or Italy, in my opinion.

He knew how much I loved Shakespeare, and so he started to murmur the same 'sweet nothings' in my ear that Romeo called to Juliet. I sighed and snuggled closer before turning and kissing him, deeply, on the mouth. I felt happy, ecstatic, joyful, and wonderful; my heart was thudding away and my skin was tingling. I love being in love.

We stood there, murmuring love to each other, before I heard Aliza cough, loudly and forced. Paul got it at once and we broke away from each other, although he did squeeze my hand quickly before letting go. We turned to face Tori. Her face betrayed none of her emotions, although I knew her well enough that I would be forcefully inquired about this later. She said quickly, "Alright, come with me. We have a plan."

We followed at once. She started talking rapidly, filling us in. "Ok, so we have gotten all of the statues back here, but K 3D doesn't want to 'reincarnate' them in here, because he said Tabuu isn't really paying attention to us, and he wants to keep it that way. We left the one next to the hand there, because it was way to close for us to get to him without being detected. So what we're gonna do is go through a doorway we found that is way big, and Ness and them are gonna 'reincarnate' the rest of them there." She gasped for air, and I grinned at her.

I bent down and helped Aliza stand, then I asked Paul to help me move Dylan. Dylan wrapped his arms around our shoulders and we dragged him that way. He tried to walk, but was soon exhausted and stopped. Everyone was already waiting for the 'all clear' signal. Each person stood in front of a statue, except Aliza, Paul, Dylan and me. As soon as we were ready, everyone pushed their statue through the door that had been hidden in the shadows.

* * *

**MINDSPRING- Whew! I really could not sleep for the past couple of nights because this chapter was lodged in my head. And that meant I couldn't concentrate on homework, either. So I had to get this done. And I think I did a good job! Please review, I'm begging you guys! Well, g'night!**


	18. We Are Not Going to be Victims Anymore

As soon as Paul, Dylan, and I crossed that threshold, I knew something was wrong.

It wouldn't take a genius to figure _that_ out, though.

The room was completely filled with a mist- no, a fog- that was damp, thick, and absolutely impossible to see through. Paul and I tightened our grips on Dylan, and took a tentative step/drag forward…

And shot to the right so fast my hair whipped out of its ponytail and smacked poor Dylan in the face.

We tumbled over, and I scrambled off of Dylan as fast as I could. He groaned, and I heaved him up so Paul was supporting him. I yelled, "WHAT THE HECK IS THIS?"

Paul shook his head and yelled back, "I HAVE NO IDEA! HELP ME WAKE DYLAN UP!" Just as I was about to pinch the unconscious boy, we suddenly turned sharply and started zooming at an even faster speed straight, or what I think was straight. I was knocked around in all directions, and I soon lost all sense of direction after four or five quick turns. Dylan was woken up by the rapid changes in directions, and we didn't even make an attempt to stand again.

Without warning, the 'ride' stopped and we flew forward three feet, landing in a heap on the ground. The whole thing had lasted less than five minutes. As we groggily reoriented ourselves, I heard Tori shout, "Jessa! Paul! Dylan! _What just happened!?"_

"_Ouch_… how are we supposed to know!?"

"I dunno! Did that escalator-thing zoom you guys off, too?" That was Aaron. Now that I looked around, I saw that we were in the room that we thought we would walk into when we crossed the threshold… does that even make sense? What I'm trying to say is, we were in the room we wanted to be in. Scoops, Tori, Aaron, Bri, Addie, and Chase ran over to us. I looked up and saw them all shaking, hair frazzled and eyes wide.

I turned around and looked at were we had just come from. I was met with a blank wall. I put my hands to it. Completely solid. I asked them, still facing the wall with my hand pressed to it, "Where are the others?"

Paul added, "And the statues, and the Smashers? What happened?"

Tori shook her head slowly, her jaw jutting forward. "I… I don't know."

"As soon as we had stepped over the threshold, our statues dissolved. Literally; they fell apart and were blown away. I have no idea where they are now."

Dylan sighed heavily, and Paul and I heaved him up. Paul said, "And King Dedede, Luigi, and Ness?"

Scoops shrugged, and said with a slight quiver in her voice, "All gone. They crossed before-"

A scream proceeded Amy, Aliza, and Psyche as they flew through the wall opposite us. They, too, looked like they had just traveled at high speeds for over five minutes. We quickly alerted them to our presence, and they staggered their way over to where we were sitting. We were almost all here, just a few more-

A thump followed Jackie and Caleb's entrance into the room. Now we were all there, and…

The Smashers and statues were not.

We were all alone, again.

I heard a sob, and I looked up to see Scoops' shoulder heaving, her sobs huge and choked. Aaron was trying to calm her down, saying it was okay, we will be alright…

She sobbed louder and he wrapped her into a loving embrace. This was a side of Aaron that _no one_ had seen coming at all. We all turned from them, and I helped Dylan into another wished-for chair. Paul and I sank to the floor next to it, and watched as everyone besides Aaron and Scoops followed suit. Everyone looked unhappy, mad, confused, shocked, terrified, saddened…

I felt all that, as well. So did Paul, I'm sure, but when I looked over at him, I saw the face of a hardened person, toughened by difficult tasks, and weathered through the survival of life. I sucked in a breath, and I grabbed his hand. He flicked his eyes up at me, and smiled, but then immediately went back into this shell.

I was getting scared now.

After a minute of dead silence, Tori, who had been biting her lip, said softly, "It's not fair. Why does this keep happening to us?"

I shrugged, and she continued in that deadened monotone, "I mean, every time it seems like things will go well for us, something just whiplashes us in the ass. Why are we always the victims? I'm so_... sick_ of it._"_

Heads suddenly got heavier, and sobs got louder. It was silent again.

"Maybe… maybe we don't have to be the victims anymore."

I looked up, that had been Paul. He was staring at the floor, still holding my hand, but his voice carried a flicker of hope in it. Looking around, I saw the heads lift up again, curiosity etched in every eye and face. Jackie wasn't paying attention; she was still tied and was leaning against the wall.

My breath caught in my throat as I choked out, "What… what do you mean, Paul?"

He took a breath, and said in a hardened voice, "Think about this. We can get whatever we want just by asking for it, and we have a large group of people, a really determined, clever group at that. The last time we put our minds together to accomplish something, we set up a camp, built a cabin, found our own food… Get my point here?"

Tori said, "Not really."

Paul sighed, and pointed to Addie. "Addie, it was your idea for the guys to do the hunting and girls to gather." He pointed to Tori. "Tori, you found the beach and a water supply. Aliza, you figured out a tracking system that impressed even Link." He went around the circle, pointing to each one of us, saying what we had done for the group. He even mentioned me as 'the person we can all talk too, who keeps us calm and sane.'

So sweet!

He took another breath and said, "Now, think about what we can do together. As one."

The excitement in the air exploded as he finished.

"We can do this!"

"What do you mean by _this_?"

"I mean, we can save our asses and the Smashers at the same time!"

"Ha, think of Falco's reactions to _that!_"

"I think we should do it! Save everyone!"

"Ooh! We could plan a sneak attack!" Scoops put in, her eyes shining.

"I think we need to find the other Smashers first," I said, and then I got an idea. I started to grin slowly. Amy noticed it, nudged Bri, and they both followed my smile. "What, Jessa?"

I beamed at them all, "We are about to become the newest Army/Air Force/Marines recruits. Ready?"

Bri's eyes were gleaming with joy. Amy sucked in a breath and squealed. Paul nodded, satisfied, and leaned back. Aaron folded his arms and said, "Bring it on, Tabuu. Bring it."

I grinned, and asked for a notebook and a pencil. I grabbed the book before it reached the ground, and opened it to the first page. I wrote all of our names in it, and, starting with Paul, wrote our new 'jobs' in it.

_Paul- tactician _

_Jessa- communications_

_Bri- tactician_

_Amy- communications_

_Addie-manager_

_Aaron-supplier_

_Chase-manager_

_Caleb-tactician_

_Psyche-supplier_

_Tori- supplier_

_Scoops-communications_

"Okay, tacticians are in charge of planning the whole thing out. What to do, when to do it, how to split up the group, what to use… all that good stuff. Next, communications; we'll be in charge of keeping everyone together by means of reminding where they are supposed to be, and we'll also try to contact the Smashers. Managers make sure everything will run smoothly, and will also be in charge of doing practice runs. Last, but certainly not least, suppliers will be in charge of getting all of the needed things, and making sure they work. Tacticians, we need to make sure everything in your plan will work. Communications, we need to get headsets and other fancy equipment that will enable us to contact everyone at the same time. Managers, make sure you look at things from all angles; ask yourself 'what if's all the time. Suppliers, your job is important, make sure you do it! Okay, I think that's it… here, managers and tacticians, you keep this notebook, write everything in it. Communications, over here. Suppliers, do whatever. Ready?"

Addie spoke up, "Jessa, hon, I think you should be manager. I'll trade with you."

"Okay, done."

"I think first, we'll all help tacticians with planning the general layout. Then we'll spilt."

"Awsome, anything else?"

Dylan asked from his chair, "What about the injured?"

"Injured people can be suppliers, or managers. Basically anything, as long as tacticians keep them out of the battle lines." Paul said, a look of excited aprehension in his face that was starting to get contagious.

Man, we were all getting really into this! I smiled at them all, and Aaron pumped up the attitude in us even more by saying, "Watch out, Tabuu. We have arrived."

* * *

**MINDSPRING- {squeals loudly and excitedly} Ahhhhh! I had so much fun writing this chapter! Finally, we're about to arrive on the daydreams that made me think up this story! The battle where we take Subspace by the storm! Ooh, my God, I can't wait, I can't wait! Beware- these next few chapters gonna be chock-full of awsome-ness!! {wow I sound modest. But I don't really care!! Eep, so excited!!}**

**Please review!!**


	19. Reunited Again

Everything was ready. Well, almost. I looked down at the clipboard in my hand, everything but two items were checked off. Weapons and other supplies still needed a few more rounds of testing, and we needed to practice firing, reloading, and relocating in the allotted time the tacts had hypothesized we would have when the attack started.

We actually had a dry-run of the whole thing planned as soon as the tacts and comms agreed all that could be done, had been done. The tacts were not completely sure that everything would work out perfectly, so they wanted a lot of tests before the actual assault.

Oh, yeah. The second thing. We still needed to make contact with the Smashers.

Comm had been working on it non-stop for at least three hours, and everything they had tried so far had fallen short. The suppliers had gotten them a whole bunch of cool high-tech stuff, from_ Star Wars _and _Star Trek_, so now we had a whole section of the room buzzing with gleaming technology.

What they had been doing was great: sent out messages on radio waves, scanned the entire area around us with GPS (don't ask me how it worked without a satellite, it just _does_), and regularly sent out people with nothing to do (suppliers) in Invisibility cloaks to search the surrounding areas.

It just didn't work.

The Smashers had just… _vanished_.

Addie sighed and irritably threw her headset down, put her head in her hands, and muttered wearily under her breath. She rubbed her eyes and after a moment or two, picked her headset back up and resumed the work, eyes slightly glazed over.

I turned and walked to the opposite side to the shooting range, where Paul was overseeing Aaron, Tori, Psyche, Caleb, and Dylan (he sniped at the targets from on a platform) as they fired all sorts of weapons at the large-man-shaped-and-colored-blue targets. Wonder where they got their design from?

A few modern weapons and a few future-modern weapons made up our supplies. Of course, they were not they only ones; these were just going to be used for the ground attacks. Tori had suggested mufflers to put on the weapons so Tabuu, who could no doubt hear what we were doing, wouldn't 'come here and blow us to tiny little bits'. Comforting, no?

So they had, and Psyche had figured out that, along with the wishing ability, the material could also be shaped into different heights, lengths, and widths, or be completely transformed. This was how we had gotten our new shooting range. Psyche had just 'asked' for one, and _boom_, there it was. Dylan had then gotten the idea that he could help the ground troops by sniping anyone they couldn't see from above. So I sent Scoops out to take the measures of the platform in Tabuu's room, and then come back here to re-create it. And there he sat, propped up in a chair, crouched over until you couldn't see him over the railings except through a little peephole where the nose of his gun poked through.

I walked over to Paul and said, "How fast have they been doing it?"

Without taking his eyes off the shooters, he replied, "Tori's fasten run was twenty-nine twenty-two."

I bit my lip and watched my best friend for ten years blast through a target with an AK-47 in her hands and a calm look on her face. "Too slow. Bri says it needs to be at the minimum twenty-eight sixty-seven."

He nodded and turned to look at me, his eyes calm but worried. "I know. We'll get there." He pulled my head in and kissed me on the forehead and murmured, "I want this to be-"

"Oh, my God! Jessa, Paul, Chase! Get over here, _now_!" Even though Aliza's triumphant cry was meant only for us, everyone stopped what they were doing and ran over to the comm corner. Paul grabbed my hand and we ran over to her, where she was standing excitedly, her eyes fixed on a screen.

"Aliza, what is it?" Chase asked, pushing forward through the crowd to her. She looked up, beamed, and pointed at the screen. He bent, squinting. I saw his face undergo three changes in about one second. First disbelief, then astonishment, and finally victory. He leapt up and shouted, "We found them! Smashers online!"

Their greetings were lost in our torrents of cheers. I leaned up to Paul, who had the biggest smile on his face, and we kissed victoriously. I pulled away first and said to Aliza, "Where are they?"

Aliza murmured rapidly into the little headset. What sounded like Fox's voice cackled through, rough and breathless. _Had they too been trying to reach us?_ I wondered as I leaned into Paul, who rubbed my shoulder as Aliza said, "Not far from here. Thirty minutes walk, it looks like."

I was exuberant, as was everyone else. Some were crying with joy, some had dry eyes, but most were jumping up and down with their joy. My stomach was jumping as well, and I could not stop smiling; it seemed to be a Barbie smile. Tears gleamed in my eyes and blurred my vision. _Thirty minutes. Thirty minutes. Thirty minutes_.Those two words kept repeating themselves over and over again in my head, but I didn't want it to stop. Only thirty minutes, and then they would be here to help us fight!

… Oh, God.

To help us fight.

Good mood gone almost at once, I looked up at Paul, my smile vanished. I'm sure he understood it too, because when he looked down, it wasn't the cheerful, easy-going boy from a few weeks ago. It was that hardened general look that I had gotten used to since he rallied us. Our eyes met, and we seemed to have a little conversation with just our eyes.

Still holding hands, we pushed through the crowd to reach Addie, Aliza, Scoops, and Sam. The three comms immediately handed their headsets over to us, and let us take their seats.

I spoke first. "Fox? Is that you?"

"Yep. Hey, Jessabell. Are you all there?"

Chase answered, "All thirteen of us. What about you guys?"

I was taken by surprise when Falco, another man, and a woman joined in the conversation. "Yeah, we're all here," said Falco, still arrogant and smug. I smiled and shook my head.

"Well, we still haven't gotten back to Ganondorf yet, if he counts." That was the other man. I looked over at Paul, who narrowed his eyes and confusion and mouthed _Captain Falcon, maybe_.

"I don't think he does count." The woman had a low, calm voice. I mouthed back, _Samus_? Paul nodded and continued, "Okay, we have a lot to explain to you guys when you get here."

"Well, explain to us now. We have _nothing_ to do. Ness and Lucas already exploded all the primids and R. with their PK."

"…Uh, okay, then… Well, when Ness, Luigi, and King Dedede were separated from us…" I tuned out while Paul was explaining, and stared at a screen in front of me. There were a ton of little green dots on it, all traveling in a massive huddle, walking slowly. That must be the Smashers. I let my eyes wander up a bit, and noticed that coming around the corner to meet them…

Hundreds, no, thousands of neatly marching red dots. And they were coming in fast. I looked back at Aliza, motioned her forward, and pointed that out. Her eyes widened slowly, and she muttered, "The primids."

I froze, looked back at the screen, and then held out a hand to stop Paul in his speech. He looked at me, confused, and I said in a hurried voice, "Okay guys, looks like we have to cut this short. Are you coming to a corner?"

I watched as the green dots stopped moving, and huddled around the center of them. The red ones were getting closer by the second…

"Um, yeah, we are. Why?" Falco's voice was sharp.

I took a deep breath and said, "Around that corner are a bunch of primids. Thousands, it looks like. There are too many for you to handle."

There was dead silence on the other end, before Samus asked, "How do you know?"

"GPS, scans of the area- I'm not sure what to call it." I kept my eyes locked on the screen, but I spoke to Paul, "Open an area in the west wing." He nodded and immediately stood, picked out the guys except for Chase, and ran over to that side. We could hear the groaning of the substance as they formed a large door that would lead the Smashers to us. We needed to make that thirty minute walk a three second run, and that was going to happen only if we cut through to the corridor they were in. Or as close to it as we could get.

I continued, "Okay, the person who is closest to the corner- who is that?"

I heard murmured voices as they checked. Fox got back first. "It's Peach. What should we do?"

I wondered, for a second in this insanity, how backwards things were. Instead of the people in distress, we were the calm ones who made all the rescues. I let this sink in as I replied, "There is a platform with a door on it right above her. You all need to get up there as soon as possible- it looks like some more joined them," I said as I watched several larger red dots make their way through the smaller ones, towards the small group of Smashers. "Paul and some others will be waiting to get you through to our room. Get up there!"

What made it worse was that we could actually here it. Thousands of guns being fired at the same time, bombs exploding, clashes of swords, explosions of magic all echoed eerily throughout our room. I checked back onto the boys' progress; they had made a door and were now checking that the route was clear. I tapped Tori on the shoulder and said, "Go tell the boys to make a distraction!"

While she ran back, Psyche also ran to the door. With a huge smile on her face, she grabbed a rocket launcher. I turned back to the screen, and switched the mode to 'Security Camera' mode.

I seriously don't know how the heck I survived without this 'wishing ability'.

I saw their attempts to slow down the waves of primids, but they just kept coming, more and more of them. Finally, in the very corner of the screen, Psyche, Tori, and Paul appeared. Each one was carrying a... I squinted, not believing my eyes.

Oh, my God.

Bottles of talcum powder. Jesus. The others murmured insults to Tori's, Psyche's, and Paul's mental levels meant they agreed with my mindset.

I was perilously close to beating myself to death with the large equipment in front of me when I saw, to my utter astonishment, that their crazy plan had worked. They had dumped at least twenty pounds of the stuff on the poor, poor, unsuspecting robots below, coating them with a thick, white cloud.

I started to laugh, and Tori and Psyche's faces told me they were not far behind. I switched the mode to the dot mode again, watched as the last few dots disappeared through the door, and I stood and walked over to the door with the other people who had nothing to do.

I crossed my arms as the first wave of Talcum powder-covered Smashers and people starting to appear. I tried not to smile; needless to say it failed quite miserably. How could you not, honestly? Fox, Falco, Samus, Captain Falcon, Peach, and Snake appeared first. Their expressions (ranging from hilarity to deep disgust) were amazing. I waited until every last person was there, and then I smiled and said, "Well, I hope you all enjoyed your welcoming gift!"

A few sighed, a few retorted, but most laughed, and we swarmed everyone with a massive group hug.

* * *

**MINDSPRING-** **Hehehe...^^ yeah ok I think I need to explain the Talcum powder... it happened at a basketball game. That's one of our tradtions- to throw Talcum powder in the air right before the game started. Not kidding. Well, the kids who rally everyone gave EV-ER-Y-BOD-Y some, and when we threw it in the air... you could NOT see anything. We missed the first five minutes of a game, and it was really nasty because it got in my throat and tongue... but it was pretty funny. ^^**

**Please review!  
**


	20. The Final Battle

"_Okay, guys. It's nearly time. The Smashers are out there, stalling him and waiting for us to make our move. You'll all do awesome, I just know it. Everyone should be as quick and as creative as you can. Because, remember, anything we ask for here will come. So be courageous, be smart, and good luck. You guys are all awesome."_

I stepped up to the bright orange, brand-new F430 Ferrari, admiring each curve of the metal, the detailing in the door and the tires. I whistled slowly; it was a gorgeous car.

And I get to drive it!

See, it happened like this: When Caleb had told the Smashers our basic plan (none of the where, who, what, or when), he just mentioned the main steps from which the tacts had built around: distract, bombing, ground troops, and finally, the aptly named 'Final Smash'. They had all reluctantly agreed that it would work (we had already run our dry-run while they had checked out the other room with Tabuu in it), and so while they did that, Scoops had accidentally wished for the distraction portion of it.

Yes, that would be the amazing Italian sports car in front of me.

And yes, that meant I had to crash it.

I couldn't wait.

Aaron and Dylan were standing next to me, livid, and actually pouting. The only reason I got to drive it was because I was the only freakin' person who knew how to drive a stick. I tried to hide my smile as I climbed into the driver's seat through the Lamborghini-style doors. I gripped the steering wheel and beamed. This was going to be awesome!

My smile faded. That meant it was getting closer; getting closer to D-Day. The Smashers were in fact already out there, in front of Tabuu, stalling for time, waiting for the major distraction I would provide. I wondered what they would think when I drove this beauty up to be crashed and most likely destroyed.

So it was time already.

I looked up as I heard footsteps approaching. Paul, Tori, Amy, Bri, Scoops, Aliza, Addie, Caleb, Psyche, and Chase were all walking towards me, calm but anxious expressions on their faces. I couldn't form my mouth into a smile; for some reason, this felt like the last time I would ever see them all together.

Not the best pre-battle mood to be in. But, still, I couldn't shake it, so I climbed out and kissed Paul on the lips. It spoke volumes of what everyone was feeling when there were no cat-calls or wolf-whistles. I then turned to each of my friends, my companions, my fellow humans, and hugged them, trying not to spill the tears. It was Tori who I held onto the longest. I turned back to Paul amidst the silent crowd, and he silently handed me a helmet. I smiled at them all as best I could, and clambered back into the driver's seat. As the doors slipped closed, I heard Paul murmur, "Stay safe," and Tori's choked sobs.

It was dead silent in the car, but it wasn't going to be for long. I plugged my IPod in to the jack, picked the loudest song I had, and waited for the 'garage doors' to open in front of me, revealing the room the Smashers were in, with Tabuu. Paul, Psyche, and Tori pressed their fingers to the walls, and it slowly opened, luckily without a sound.

I gripped the leather of the steering wheel with white knuckles, turned the bass to the loudest it could go, put in my earpiece, and put on the helmet. I turned the keys, and a jolt of excitement and anticipation shocked through me quickly. The engine purred as I slid forward to the opening. Hopefully they couldn't hear me yet…

"_Alright, Jessa. Turn the music up!"_ Addie's crackled voice fizzed through and at the same time, I pressed the stereo on, pressed the clutch, and revved the engine. Jesus, I love these cars!

I drove forward, into the light, with B.Y.O.B blaring in my head. I couldn't hear a thing beside the screaming guitar and thumping bass.

The headlights fell on Tabuu, who was in front of the Smashers, all looking at me in confusion. Or, _apparent_ confusion. We had told them to act confused no matter what. They were doing a fine job now.

I shifted into first, and stopped the car, waiting. Wario (major ew factor right here, folks) had told us a lot about Tabuu, like how he was _extremely_ sensitive to noises, and his attacks were very (helpfully) slow. I waited, and so did everyone else.

The music pounded in my ears, jolting me and throbbing the walls and floors.

"_Okay, Jessabell. Nearly time… wait for him to start to move before you do. Make it unpredictable, make it speedy. This can only take about forty-five seconds, tops. Good luck."_ Scoops' comforting voice calmed me down a little bit. My stomach was churning and I was gritting my teeth with the stress of anxiety flowing through me right now.

I had my hand on the stick, my feet on the acceleration and clutch, and in one more attempt to distract him, I revved it even louder. Almost at once, he untangled himself and reared back, his faceless head faced towards me. A giant hook was in his hand, and I knew at once this was the time to move.

"_Jessa! What are you doing? Move NOW!"_

"Not yet! I need to wait for the-"

A large explosion went off next to me.

I decided now was the time to stop talking and start driving.

"_Good Lord, Jessa! Next time fricking LISTEN!"_

I frowned but listened all the same.

I released the clutch and sped off towards the right, tires squealing on the strange substance. Not even one second later, a huge slash of light exploded behind me. I checked behind me in the mirrors. I thrust the wheel to the left and burned some… uh, whatever-the-stuff-was. Explosions were following me so closely now I could feel the power through the car. I jerked forward every time it happened. I needed to reach Tabuu at the closest I could get.

"_Okay, chiqua. Time for some moves!"_ Aliza cheered in my ear, and I smiled just picturing her pumping her fist in the air.

I sped up, reaching 60s and 70s. In one swift movement, I locked the parking brake, turned the steering wheel to the right with all my strength, and unlocked the brake. I started to laugh; I had just completed a Twilight-movie-esque turn. Coolest... thing… _ever_.

By now, I knew that the 'Air Force would be preparing to launch its operation, so I needed to crash this. Tabuu had not moved, save for his head. I zoomed towards him, getting ready to evacuate, opening the door and unbuckling my seatbelt.

As soon as I was sure I had sped it up to the point of no return, I threw open the door and bailed. I tucked my body, just like I had practiced, and bounced across the floor as the Ferrari exploded from all of the sensitive gunpowder I had been carrying triggered a massive explosion. I practically hit the floor running, and held my hands over my neck as flaming pieces of Ferrari rained down on me. I could barely feel a trickle curve across my back, but I'm sure the only reason I was numb to the pain was because instead of that, adrenaline was flowing through my veins.

I pulled out the Invisibility Cloak from my jacket pocket and threw it over me. I looked behind me to see Tabuu rearing up, huge, enraged, and screaming as my flaming Ferrari pieces struck him dead-on.

"_Brilliant operation, Jessa! That went _perfectly_! Okay, you need to head back to the Smashers now, explain that you're still alive- they look a little worried-"_ I looked up and saw the group of Smashers frozen in comical horror. I'm not sure how many of them actually saw me bail, but I still needed them to be aware of it, _"-and then come right back into our room, I need you to take over for me."_ Each person had at least one job to do, and we would trade as often as we could.

I stepped into the group, and at once, a large dog-like thing turned his head sharply and looked at me. I knew he knew I knew that he knew that I was there, so I stepped up to him and said softly, amidst the screams of rage and flames and crashes, "Please tell them I'm fine."

He nodded and I was off again, running as fast as my not-designed-for-running legs could carry me. I leapt into the room and tore off my cloak. I ran to the comm. corner and immediately Addie stood and handed me the headset while she took my earpiece. Aliza and Scoops had already left for their other duties, so it was just me controlling everyone's position. I sat down in the chair and watched from Tori's camera as she and the other 'Air Force'-ees leapt off a cliff made thanks to the pliability of this material.

Tori, Psyche, Aliza, Caleb, Scoops, and Chase made up the Air Force. Based on a Youtube video shown in Choir class, we had gotten these amazing suits that had extra fabric attached at the wrists to the hips, and from ankle to ankle. If worn when jumping off, let's say, a cliff or high ledge, the extra fabric caught the wind and basically, the wearer could fly with these babies. They had spent hours preparing their tactics, and now zoomed along the walls at terrific speeds, perilously close to the walls, brushing them with their fingers. Each of them carried several bombs, some meant for attack/damage, and then the smaller ones for getting away. Since there was no way to fly back _up,_ they would have to hide under the cover of (no, not Talcum powder) the smoke from bombs taken from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and I'm pretty sure that it's called Peruvian Darkness, or something like that…

"Front lines, drop… now. Off. Second lines… now. Land, explode those bombs first, and run. Hit the ground running. Go, go, go!"

I watched, stomach knots returning with stronger pangs, as Tori was nearly taken out by a zap from the now extremely confused, and angry, Tabuu. She grunted, obviously stifling a cry, and managed to land first. They released the massive smoke bombs, and ran for the group of Smashers.

Out of nowhere, a blue blur zoomed in front of Tori, and past the others. I frowned, and after Tori was done cursing, I said sharply, "Tori, what the hell was that?"

"_God, I don't know, but it nearly took me out!"_

"Okay, then… contacting the Smashers… Falco? Fox? Hello?" I pressed some buttons on the dashboard as fast as I could.

"_Hey! Those were some pretty sweet moves you just pulled off! And the people flying, damn that is just so cool!"_

I smiled to myself and replied, "Thanks, Fox. Okay, did you happen to see what nearly ran over Tori?"

"_I did. That was Sonic the Hedgehog. Apparently, he's the fastest thing in the world, and pretty cocky as well."_

"Thanks, Samus. I'll check back in with you guys later! Oh, wait… As soon as you see the signal from Chase- he'll shoot his gun into the air-, that's when you have the all clear. We'll try to stay out of your way."

"_Thanks."_

I logged off and switched back to Tori's cam, which showed that they had successfully retreated and were now waiting with the other ground troopers. Waiting for my 'all go'.

I paused, my hand a few inches above the button that would connect me to all of them. This is a major defining moment for them, and for me as well. We're basically saving the world here. And doing it without as much as a scratch. I smiled sadly, and looked at each one of them, carrying weapons and looking calm, collected and confident. I felt an immense surge of pride for every single one of them, plus the adrenaline now fading through my veins. My head throbbed gently, and a few tears slid down my dirty face.

What am I doing? We need to stop Tabuu, and fast. He was starting to unfurl his wings, and I realized that this was the time to act, because that same movement preceded the first attack on us all. I slammed my hand down and shouted, "GO GO GO!"

Ripples of fire, smoke, bullets, and lasers immediately lit up the darkened room, exploding on his body with a tremendous force. It knocked him backward, stunned, for a few seconds. A few dementors and some vampires, werewolves, and those 'vampires' from 'I Am Legend' swarmed him, biting, ripping, shredding. It was a fear-inspiring moment, as the dark shapes flooded around Tabuu.

Ah, the magic of movies. As the last of the terrible movie monsters were either destroyed or called back, I noticed something very wrong.

My stomach dropped when I saw that everyone had extinguished their supplies of ammo already.

Tabuu had also noticed.

The Smashers were too far away to help.

Oh, my God, they are going to die.

"GUYS!! What are you doing?"

"_We accidentally used up everything in our practice tests, and forget to get more!"_

Are you frickin serious?!?

"_Don't worry, we're on it."_

I couldn't move, because of the horror of what was going to happen hit me. Here they were acting calm in the face of danger, when they were about to get killed. Before my eyes, and I was helpless to do anything to stop it.

Sparks of electricity filled the room as he stretched out his limbs and threw them back. He leaned his head back to the skies and roared furiously, at being out-witted by a bunch of human teens, in pain from the multiple weapons and in a last desperate attempt to destroy everyone of us.

I covered my eyes. I know it's shameful, but I didn't want my friends dying expressions locked in my memory forever.

A sound of screeching electricity was filling the room, as was that awful blue light from before. I could see it even underneath my eyelids and hands. _Oh, God, how can you do this? Don't let them be taken away, please!_

Instead of the cries I had braced myself for; I instead heard a shattering of glass, and it falling to the ground. I glanced up in confusion. _What is going on?_ On the screen, a blue thing was standing on our platform, the one the 'Air Force' had used. He had a smug look on his face, and as I scanned the screen, I saw that Tabuu's wings had been completely destroyed. They lay on the ground, shattered in a million tiny pieces.

Thank you, mysterious Sonic dude.

Tabuu's anger was palpable. It surged through the room like a heat wave, and even I squirmed as it reached me. Tori and the others had finally gotten there new ammo. I started; it had all happened in less than ten seconds, and Sonic actually unknowingly created a diversion so the new ammo could be gotten.

I jumped when Snake buzzed in, _"Hey, Jessa, tell them that he's weak enough. We can take it from here."_

"Okay, got it." I pressed the other buttons and got Psyche.

"Psyche, Snake says they're ready now. Make this the last round, and then… and then come back!" As I finished the sentence, I realized we had done it. We had actually pulled off an assault on something about a gazillion times larger than us, and we had done so unscathed.

Psyche laughed triumphantly, _"Yeah, girl, I got that feeling too. It's the best I have ever felt."_

"Alright, then. Come back and let's party!" I smiled, and leaned back in my chair, happy and content.

_Crack_.

Oh, no… Jackie…

I heard, rather than felt, the bullet enter me. I looked down and saw a widening circle of bright, glaring red seeping through the thin material. All at once, the fire caught up with it.

"_Jessa? Jessa! Jessa, what is it?! Jessa, ANSWER! GUYS!" _Her voice was shrill now, harsh to my ears.

_Why isn't anyone coming? _

_Oh, God, it hurts…_

A wall of pain slammed down on me, forcing my voice to cry out of its own accord. I looked down, and let out a small whimper when I saw the torn flesh, and blood flooding out. I tried to still the flow with my hands, but it didn't work. My hands were covered in it after a few seconds. I could hear screams from the headset, just barely, they were just sharp cries, added to my own. Floods of pain slammed down on my head, my whole body, drowning me. It felt like my whole body was being consumed by a huge fire, destroying me.

_Where are they…?_

_Where is she…?_

All of a sudden, the immense pain stopped, and a new wave took its place: sadness, and anger. I looked up, hands still pressed to my stomach, and saw Jackie, standing a few feet away with a smoking pistol aimed at me. Her face was wreathed in shadows.

_Why doesn't it hurt… anymore.…_

I rested my cheek against the cold floor.

_Why, God?_

I heard the pounding footsteps before I saw the feet. Every single last person who had been in that room was sprinting towards me. I couldn't see their expressions.

All of a sudden, my mind went blank.

There was red spreading on the floor now, what was that?

I tasted something bitter in my mouth, and I frowned. I was so confused…

What was going on?

Someone was trying to lift me, but I didn't have the strength. Besides, I didn't want to leave the coolness of the floor; the fire was still consuming me.

Images blurred, my legs started to tingle, and then all of my limbs went numb at the same time. I closed my eyes. The pain had struck again, stronger, and I couldn't keep up…

_Oh, Paul, I should have said 'I love you'… I wish we could have been something more… something more than friends…_

……

…..

…

..

.


	21. The Grace of a Goddess

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_.._

…

…_._

…_.._

_What the… Where the heck am I?_

Light was flooding underneath my eyelids. As I slowly woke, I stretched out my hands, feeling the soft cloth I was resting on. My head was on a pillow, and I was on a mattress. A real, frickin' mattress.

I sat up at once, and blinking, tried to absorb where I was.

I was in a semi-large room, with large windows letting in the setting light of the sun. It cast a golden sheen on everything. Everything was gold in this room: the carpets, the ornately designed walls, the dressers, the cups on the dressers, the bookcases, the books, the wood on the bed, the sheets…

I think I've made my point.

I rubbed my eyes and stared down at myself. I was dressed in a clean, simple toga, white and comfortable. I was completely clean, more so than I had been for the last few weeks…

Oh, shit.

Oh, my God. Oh, my freakin' God! What… what the hell?

My head started to buzz, aching, and I started to shiver violently. The room swam dangerously in front of me as I tried to make sense of what had just happened.

_Okay, one: I'm pretty sure Jackie shot me. Two: I blacked out, and three: I'm here now, with absolutely no wound to show the bullet hole. Only one logical conclusion for this._

_W…T…F._

"It's quiet alright; no need to worry about it, Jessabell. Oh, dear, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you jump."

I breathed in deeply, eyes wide and wild, as I struggled to calm my racing heart. A tall lady with green hair and a beautiful gold headdress stood above me, one of her hands outstretched towards me. She had touched me on the shoulder before I spazzed out and nearly peed my pants- err, toga.

She smiled warmly at me, and the golden light seemed to grow around her especially. All of a sudden, I felt calm, peaceful, and relaxed. She wore leather gloves/arm guards that went up to just under her shoulder line. Her toga was lined in gold, and way fancier than mine. Several belts were looped around her waist, and she wore a lot of necklaces. In short, she looked like a goddess; unreal, serene, beautiful.

She held out her hand and said quietly, "My name is Palutena. Please, join me. I have a lot to explain to you."

I took her hand and staggered upright. I wobbled uncertainly, and when I tried to walk, my legs came close to buckling. The woman caught me before I did a complete faceplant, and held me up while I tried to walk. Frowning slightly, I asked her, "Wait, I'm confused… Where, why, when, and how?"

She laughed and replied as we walked to a balcony, "You are in Princess Zelda's Hyrulian Palace. Along with your friends and the rest of the Smashers, she offered her home as a temporary stay. Meta Knight flew everyone over here as fast as he could, considering your condition. Princess Zelda, Princess Peach, Pit, even Ganondorf tried everything to revive you. But it was too late. You had been dead since the bullet hit you."

"…Dead…? I was… I was _dead_? Well, how… how did they not notice that?"

Palutena laughed a little and said, "That was me. Even though your soul had already left your body, I replaced it with a spare one while I searched for yours. It gave you the appearance of just barely alive, even though you weren't. It wasn't fate for you to die; in fact _you _were supposed to kill _Jackie_. I'm not sure how that got backwards, but- Are you alright?"

I had put my hands on my knees, my stomach heaving. _This isn't real. This is just a bad dream- Dead?? _I stood again and tried to smile, "Just a little weak. Please, continue."

She walked onto the balcony. The sun had set, and the moon and stars were beginning to appear. We were standing over the ocean, and a brisk wind whipped our togas around. I breathed in deeply as she started again.

"That was yesterday. While I was sending out every troop I had- aside from Pit, of course, trying to locate your soul, the one I had replaced it with, was quickly fading. In fact, I had to keep replacing them. I believe I used three… Finally, we found your soul, brought it back here, and I personally revived it and put it back in.

"They had brought you back here, and Princesses Peach and Zelda washed you and put you in this room, to stay until the burial. I don't think you understand the impact you had on everyone. No one has smiled for a long time. All they speak of is your burial.

"When I had found your soul, I also came upon the complete story of how you and your friends came into this world. You see, I had noticed your strange appearance, and even though I couldn't explain it at the time, I could still protect. I know what your thinking, Jessabell. I can't intervene with fate. Everything that was supposed to happen, happened. Except, of course, the strange mix-up with you and Jackie. I prevented as much as I could, and when you were separated I kept you all calm and I made sure you were alive and well.

"Apparently, what happened is this: When the first Subspace Bomb went off, it created a denser black hole than the Subspace Army expected. So dense, that in fact it connected your world with this one. It sucked you in, and sucked everyone in the Stadium out. I guess you can say it was like a wormhole through time and space. Master Hand noticed you first, and transported you to that clearing, in an attempt to save you. Unfortunately, it did not work. When Tabuu took control of Master Hand's mind, not just his body, Tabuu saw you all as a great way to catch and snare all of the Smashers. He sent the weakest ones dreams, ordering them to abandon everyone else and join his side. He believed that if he scared them enough, then they would do as he ordered. However, when only Jackie responded, he became furious and swore to destroy everyone. He transported Jackie to his side, and had her aid Ganondorf in capturing you.

"When he tried to send the first wave, and Amy noticed it, she saw a chance to redeem herself in her mind. She felt horrible that she was receiving the messages. An interesting fact is that Tabuu in fact made her stronger through his attempt to weaken her. She became on of the strongest ones in your group. He had no control over her as soon as she saw the ship.

"Now, what happened with your dreams was completely unintentional. Master Hand brother, Crazy, sent you the dreams of his own accord. When Tabuu figured it out, he destroyed Crazy's mind. This was near the point when you and Amy met Ike, Marth, and Meta Knight.

"Tabuu was getting desperate. He had no trophies of the Smashers now, because King Dedede intercepted Wario, who had the three statues of Princess Peach, Luigi, and Ness. King Dedede placed a badge on each one of them. The badge would de-trophy anyone who wore it. You see, King had actually been a part of the SubSpace Army, but he had figured out Tabuu's master plot: to destroy every Smasher that he could. So he broke away from the Army, and developed the badge.

"Tabuu sent Ganondorf to capture at least one of your group. When he succeeded with taking you and Amy away, he thought he had finally began to turn the tables. His thinking was this: that if he could get all of you, then the Smashers would feel a desire to protect you, like older siblings would to for their younger siblings. He was right; those three, along with Pit's group, eventually met. Pit's group had a few traveling with them, and soon they all realized where you both had gone.

"When they realized this, I realized that you two would become such an important asset to Tabuu that he might actually succeed in his evil goals. Up until this point, I had been sending out some of my troops to aid anyone who needed it, but his darkness was getting too strong too fast. Pit had been ordered to help as well, so I was left on my own. Tabuu could not have all the Smashers at once.

"I know you are going to think me an evil person for saying this, but I'm not. The world would be completely destroyed if I hadn't acted.

"When you and Amy were captured, I planted seeds in your minds about escape. At the same time, I lead the Smashers around by the noses until I was sure you had escaped. I made sure you would not meet them where he was keeping you, so the group of Smashers arrived in your cell just as soon as you had left. I had hoped that you would be able to rendezvous with them outside of Subspace, but unfortunately Tabuu noticed this and severed all of my ties to you and the Smashers, so in fact he lead you all to him.

"I'm sure he thought he had a victory, but Master Hand and Ganondorf soon realized his plan. They both tried to attack, and failed. Tabuu now was the complete master of the world, and I could do nothing to stop it, until Sonic smashed his wings. He separated you from the Smashers because he knew that if you could all get together, you could easily destroy him.

"At this point, I regained my ties to everyone and I knew you had to act fast. Tabuu knew nothing about the wishing ability that you and Amy had discovered, and that was his fatal flaw. He thought that you would be able to do nothing, and so let his guard down to much.

"When you brought up the attack, Tabuu realized this and sent one final dream to Jackie. This is where the fates got mixed up. Since you were in his region, he could do anything. The message was to kill. Not you, but anyone.

"As soon as you had been shot, Pit heard my cries. He looked over at your group. No one had heard the shot because of the noise the dying Tabuu had made, but Psyche had heard you whimpering. Those two locked eyes, and immediately understood.

"When they took off running, the rest of the Smashers were confused until they, too, heard your screams of pain. Everyone was sprinting as fast as they could, but it was too late. Pit, being the only angel, could have seen your soul leave your body, but he had been distracted by Jackie. She was eventually taken down by Samus. And, yes. I do mean killed.

"Paul was cradling your head in his lap when Princess Zelda realized the dangers: Subspace was collapsing. Due to her clear sight, she was able to get everyone out of there just in time. She then offered her Palace as a place to stay, and, well, here we are."

I stared at her, open-mouthed. Finally I sputtered out, "That's… that's a lot to take in…" I suddenly knew who she was: Pit's Goddess.

Palutena smiled and took my hands in hers. "I know. But, here-" she closed her eyes briefly and then reopened them. "I just sent a message to Pit. He should be running along right now."

It was true. We could hear clangs and curses as he ran into things in his haste to reach us.

"One last thing…" Palutena placed her hands on my shoulders and started to murmur something in a language I couldn't understand. I felt a warm feeling spreading through my body, almost as if a weight had been lifted from me. I smiled, for real this time. Palutena finished her murmurs as the door banged open. She kissed me on the head before she vanished in a shower of golden light.

I felt the sea breeze blow the briny smell onto me. It whipped the fabric of my toga around, and blew my hair back. I felt serene, complete, and confident. Whole.

How could I not love life, at this point? To really appreciate things would be my goal now, to take things a little more seriously. I had died, and by the grace of a goddess, had been returned to my friends, completely healed. I felt older, wiser, and knew that I had most defiantly been 'there and back again.'

I smiled at the world before turning to face my friends.

**~:~FIN~:~**

* * *

**MINDSPRING-You know, it's interesting... This is proably my better-written story, way more so than A New Beginning, but it wasn't as popular as that one was... weird.  
**

**Well, I hope you guys liked it. Please click the little box underneath the text and leave all your thoughts on this story. I really do mean all, too.**

**I have read and re-read each review, praising everyone who did leave reviews and took the time to read this story (my longest one to date).**

**Special thanks to CrystalTheWarrior, for being the first reviewer; King Sparky, for being the most consistent reviewer; PeridotSwan for the funniest reviews, and, last but most certainly not least, StormWolf9, for coming in late to the party but still making my day that much better. ^-^ Thanks!!**

**You guys all rock, even those who didn't review.**

**Credits: SME, Harry Potter, I Am Legend, Ferrari, my friends, family, and my computer. (I am probably forgetting a ton of references, but these are the big ones).  
**

**DFTBA!**

**_MindSpring has signed off_**


	22. Epilouge

"Come on, you guys. It's not _that _scary!"

I stood, hands on hips, in front of the room where all the humanoid Smashers (minus Ganondorf) were in. Scoops leaned in to me and murmured, "This is so funny; I can't wait to see them all!"

We were still at Princess Zelda's Hyrulian Palace. Due to a favor Link owed me, I had a small pool built when I learned that _none_ of the Smashers could swim. Not even the water Pokémon. That's why Marth, Ike, and Meta Knight had been so freaked out when Amy and I had threatened to jump in the river and swim away. I turned to the deep blue water and my friends. I called a huddle and placed my hands on Scoops' shoulders on one side and Paul's on the other.

"Okay, this is the play- break sixteen, fake-out escape, and herd. Got it?" Every eyes sparkled and every mouth grinned hugely as Aaron yelled, "Break!"

We lined up to face the room. By now, they should be well aware of what we were about to do- I mean, it wasn't going to be the first time we had used a football play to make them do something. Take last week, for example: Aliza and Victoria had squeezed it out of Falco who Fox's mysterious vixen visitor was by using an ingenious set of dares, triple-threats, and trip wires.

"Oh, no," I heard Lucas sigh.

"Not again!" Link whined- he had been another victim last month.

"They should be an Assist Trophy. Whoever would have them would be absolutely unstoppable," Samus moaned.

I smiled. "Watch that blue fourteen! On my mark- ready, GO!"

Chaos erupted as we tried to wrangle the Smashers (who were all looking spiffy in the season's latest swimming suits) into the pool as they tried to avoid the thirteen deadly teens (also looking quite fabulous). I made like a piggy and leapt onto Ike's back. I swear, the boy is absolutely toned! Just going to put that out there.

I laughed and said, "What, a big strong man like you is scared of a liquid?"

He spun around, trying but not succeeding to get me off. He would never really hurt me- no one would, after my close kiss with death. It was a plus to the whole 'coming-back-to-life-from-the-dead' thing, I guess.

"Don't… you have… a boyfriend?" He said as he stopped circling. I thwacked him on the head and said, "Just get in the damn pool, Ike!"

He laughed again and took a huge running leap into the water, making a perfect cannonball and sending a huge wave of chlorinated water over the remaining, brave few who still battled out their dry dignity on the deck. Peach, Link, Mario, Red, Ike, Lucas, Pit, Ness, and Zelda had fallen to the dark side. Marth, Samus, and Snake (I had been the most surprised that he had no idea how to swim - and had joined us) still battled with Scoops, Chase, and Amy, but they were quickly losing ground as the three teens inched them closer. With a final yell, Marth and Samus fell backward amidst cheers and groans from the audience in the pool. It was turning out to be like a football game back home, with the teens against the Smashers. Scoops started to catcall the remaining one and Samus retaliated with her own cries of support. Soon, everyone was cheering as loud as they possibly could.

I was still hanging on to Ike's back, and he was in fact holding my arms together against his neck. I noticed for the first time how pretty his hair was- a deep blue, thick and… What am I doing?? Amy stood on her toes and whispered in my ear, "Hon, bf's giving you the bs! Get down!"

My stomach dropped as I saw Paul's look of disgust. I patted Ike on his shoulder and luckily he realized the problem as soon as soon as I did that. He let his arms fall and I slid off of his back and into the water.

Snake now had five people advancing on him. He seemed to realize he stood no chance and stood straight as a board, snapped to attention and saluted them. They saluted back and did so until he had stepped off the deck and into the water.

Aliza started singing 'We Are the Champions' as the Smashers started to get the feel of the water. I smiled and laughed with everyone else and tried to ignore the fact that I could feel both Paul's and Ike's eyes following my every move.

By the time the sun was about to set, Link and Caleb has set up some chairs as goals and a lively match of water polo was about to happen. The rest of the Smashers gathered to watch, and Kirby had even brought some snacks for everyone. I smiled and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. _Mission accomplished_, I thought, and started to wade towards center pool.

"Bring it on, Smashers!"

"You guys are going down!"

"We've been doing this since we were kids!"

I grabbed the ball and stood between Paul and Ike. Talk about intense stares. "Alright, everyone, I want a nice clean game. No hitting, biting, slapping, kicking, or knocking out using advanced military techniques! Everything else is legal- oh, and no killing! Ready…" I backed away from the two men and tossed the ball high in the air. "GO!"

I'm not sure that the spectators could even see what was happening, with all the water going everywhere. By the end of the third game, I'm pretty sure there was more water out of the new pool than in.

Exhausted, the Smashers admitted defeat and everyone began to leave to go to bed. I leapt out of the pool and grabbed a towel. Paul and I walked back to our room that we shared and talked late into the night about everything. He wanted to write the entire story down, for posterity, and I agreed with him. So we sat down, grabbed a pen and started to write. He wrote his own version, I wrote my own.

I hope you enjoyed reading it.

"It is only in adventure that some people succeed in knowing themselves - in finding themselves."

Andre Gide quotes (French writer, humanist and moralist, 1947 nobel prize for literature, 1869-1951)

"It is in the compelling zest of high adventure and of victory, and in creative action, that man finds his supreme joys."

Antoine de Saint-Exupery quotes (French Pilot, Writer and Author of 'The Little Prince', 1900-1944)


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